State Attorneys Ignore
Arguments Against At-Large Observer Rights
(RALEIGH, NC.) – March 26, 2020: The Public
Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) filed a motion to intervene on behalf of client Voter Integrity Project
NC to defend North Carolina against attacks to their recent voter integrity law
that increased at-large election observer rights and created a voter
identification requirement (North Carolina NAACP et. al v. Cooper et.
al.).
“North Carolina is leaving observer rights largely undefended against activists opposed to transparent elections,” PILF President and General Counsel J. Christian Adams said. “Using the important Voting Rights Act to attack transparent elections is both wrong and beyond the Constitutional application of that important civil rights law. In a time of great stress and change, our elections must have more citizen observation—not less.”
“Our entire
democratic process depends on the confidence both sides hold in the election’s results,
and observers play a critical role,” said Jay DeLancy, Director
of VIP-NC. “We defend North
Carolina’s at-large observer law because it helps rescue us from the Jim-Crow past,
when election officials intimidated the voters, abused observers, and rigged
outcomes.”
Intervenor’s Argument Summary
— VIP-NC’s has an established record of recruiting
and training observers dating back to before the 2012 Election. Trainees
are taught to document voter misconduct, election worker errors, and offer
on-the-spot correction when warranted.
— An order for the plaintiffs would damage a core function of VIP-NC as it is a founding purpose of their citizen initiative.
— The State of North Carolina is derelict in
defending the current observer system being contested in the case. A core
tenet of whether any intervention in any case is warranted is if a party is
failing to protect the interests of others impacted. This case marks a clear
example of an incomplete defense of law. With a successful intervention, all
arguments raised by the plaintiffs will finally be answered before the Court.
The case is currently in the United States District Court
for the Middle District of North Carolina. The case number is 1:18-cv-1034. The
attorney for the Public Interest
Legal Foundation is Kaylan L. Phillips. Raleigh-based Timothy R. Haga serves
as local counsel.
Public
Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) is a 501(c)(3) public interest law firm
dedicated to election integrity. The Foundation exists to assist states and
others to aid the cause of election integrity and fight against lawlessness in
American elections. Drawing on numerous experts in the field, PILF seeks to
protect the right to vote and preserve the Constitutional framework of American
elections.
Voter
Integrity Project – NC is a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization founded
in a grassroots effort to promote open and honest election in North Carolina
and has pioneered analytic and detection processes that resulted in numerous
fraudulent voters being brought to justice.###
Preferred Settlement Will Secure Release of All
Requested Records
(HOUSTON, TX.) – March 18, 2020: The Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) reached a settlement with Harris County, Texas to disclose records of foreigners voting in Texas elections. The United States District Court entered a settlement order this week. (PILF v. Harris Bennett).
The federal district court in Houston, Texas, entered the settlement
agreement between the Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector and Voter
Registrar and the Foundation late Tuesday, March 17.
“Our election
systems must be transparent. Foreigners are registering and voting in the
United States. Election officials must be transparent and follow federal
disclosure laws if we are ever to understand the extent of the problem. This
settlement is the best possible outcome for clean elections in Texas,” PILF President and General Counsel J. Christian Adams said. “The Foundation will now be able to catalog
and share with key leaders the systemic problems that allow foreigners onto the
voter rolls. Research like
this bolsters the interests of all coming into contact with the Motor Voter
system—no matter where they were born.”
Settlement Terms Summary
–County will provide records showing cancellations
from voter roll due to later confirmation of ineligibility.
–County will provide records where “notices of
examination” were sent to registrants where eligibility was officially
questioned.
–County will provide copies of voter registration applications containing blank or negative responses to citizenship eligibility questions.
–County will provide lists of registrants cancelled
after disqualification from jury service for noncitizenship.
–County will provide all communication files between registrar’s
office and law enforcement entities regarding ineligible registrants.
–All records held between January 1, 2013 to date
are subject to the agreement.
The Foundation previously defeated
Harris County’s motion to dismiss the case in March 2019.
The Foundation originally selected Harris County for
study after local officials described the underlying problems spanning
nearly two decades—most often in the context of lobbying for or against
election reform bills in Austin or Washington.
The Foundation also defeated
a case dismissal effort brought by the Pennsylvania Department of State in
December 2019 for similar records.
Section 8 of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993
allows individuals to inspect “records concerning the implementation of
programs and activities conducted for the purpose of ensuring accuracy and
currency of official lists of eligible voters,” the PILF noted in its original
complaint.
The case was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, number 4:18-cv-00981. Judge Andrew S. Hanen presided.
Attorneys for the Public Interest Legal Foundation were
J. Christian Adams and Noel H. Johnson. Brenham-based Andy Taylor of Andy
Taylor & Associates, P.C. serves as local counsel.
Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) is a 501(c)(3) public interest law firm dedicated to election integrity. The Foundation exists to assist states and others to aid the cause of election integrity and fight against lawlessness in American elections. Drawing on numerous experts in the field, PILF seeks to protect the right to vote and preserve the Constitutional framework of American elections.
###
County Procedures Leave Dead,
Duplicate, Corrupted Registrations on Roll
(PITTSBURGH, PA.) – February 26, 2020: The Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) filed a lawsuit against Allegheny County, Pennsylvania for failing to reasonably maintain voter registration records under federal and state law (Public Interest Legal Foundation v. Allegheny Board of Elections).
“List maintenance
in Allegheny County has broken down,” PILF President and General Counsel J. Christian Adams said. “We found
people registered multiple times, registrants who were dead for decades, and
problems throughout the rolls.
Elections cannot have the same people registered two, three, or even seven
times at once. We hope bringing this action will result in a quick solution
before elections in November.”
Allegheny County Quick Facts
— # of Registrations flagged for duplicate, 3X, 4X, 7X
concerns: 7,493
— # of Dead Registrants: 1,583
— # of Registrants Aged 100+: 1,523 (49 in the 1800s)
— # of Registrations Missing Actual Dates of Birth: 1,178
— # of Registrations Missing Actual Dates of
Registration: 193
— # of Registrations with Corrupted or Out-of-State
Addresses: 35
–Voter Registration Rate per 2018 Citizen Voting-Age
Population: 95%
The initial complaint explains the Foundation studied the County’s voter list maintenance efforts throughout
2019 to date by a variety of means. At several points in the past year, PILF
acquired the statewide qualified voter file from the Pennsylvania Secretary of
State for the purpose of comparing registration lists against federal death
records and other official sources.
The Foundation ultimately sampled all active registrants
finding more than 1,580 listed as dead.
The Foundation also studied and catalogued examples of
single registrants who managed to become registered to vote two and even up
to seven times with matching or substantially similar names and other
biographical information within the same addresses. PILF flagged a grand total
of 7,493 registration files for duplicate, triplicate, quadruplicate, and even
septuplicate concerns. Among them, examples of married/maiden name conflicts,
simple typographical errors, and conflicting gender designations were trending
concerns.
One subject was recorded as registering to vote up to seven
times in a single day while out of state.
The Foundation also flagged impossibly old dates of
birth held within the voter file. More than 1,520 were flagged age 100
years or older. One registrant is stated as being born in “June 1800,” the
same year Thomas Jefferson won eight of Pennsylvania’s 15 Electoral College
votes against President John Adams.
The Foundation flagged an emerging trend of dozens of
subjects managing to register in Allegheny County despite only providing residential
addresses outside of Pennsylvania.
The County also relies on placeholder information within
registrant files. In nearly 1,200 instances, dates of birth were not
captured. In another roughly 200 cases, the County did not know when a
registration file was established.
The Foundation seeks relief under Section 8 of the
National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which requires officials to make
“reasonable efforts” to maintain voter lists and offers a private right to file
a lawsuit if standards are not met.
In July 2018, PILF published
a study regarding foreign nationals’ requests to cancel their Allegheny
County voter registration files due to immigration and naturalization concerns.
A similar voter roll list maintenance lawsuit was brought
by PILF against
the City of Detroit in December 2019. Separate
litigation between the Foundation and the Pennsylvania Department of State
regarding the disclosure of registration cancellation records involving foreign
nationals is pending in the Middle District. The Court rejected
Pennsylvania’s motion to dismiss the suit in December 2019.
The new case was filed in the United States District
Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. The case number is 2:20-cv-00279.
The attorney for the Public Interest
Legal Foundation is J. Christian Adams. Linda A. Kerns L.L.C. serves as
local counsel.
Public
Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) is a 501(c)(3) public interest law firm
dedicated to election integrity. The Foundation exists to assist states and
others to aid the cause of election integrity and fight against lawlessness in
American elections. Drawing on numerous experts in the field, PILF seeks to
protect the right to vote and preserve the Constitutional framework of American
elections. ###
(AUGUSTA, ME.) – February 19, 2020: The Public
Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) filed a lawsuit today against Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap for failing to disclose
voter registration records under federal law (Public
Interest Legal Foundation v. Matthew Dunlap).
“Secretary Dunlap
purports to be a champion of transparency, until it comes to his own office,” PILF President and General Counsel J.
Christian Adams said. “Maine law conflicts with federal statute. A
person or organization’s lack of partisan interests should not disqualify them
from reviewing list maintenance records. Maine’s elections records must be made
available to the public.”
The complaint filed today, February 19, explains the Foundation initially requested copies of
Maine’s statewide voter file and voting histories on October 17, 2019 pursuant
to Section 8 of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. Secretary Dunlap’s
office notified PILF the same day that the request was denied, given that the
Foundation did not intend to leverage the data for electioneering purposes. On
October 29, the Foundation provided
notice to Secretary Dunlap that litigation would commence after his office
did not release the data pursuant to the federal statutes governing the matter.
The Foundation seeks relief under Section 8 of the
National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which requires officials to make voter
list maintenance documents like the voter roll itself available for inspection
to the general public. The law also offers a private right to file a lawsuit if
denied.
Other federal courts which have confronted the issue have
sided in favor of disclosure of public records.
Maine is now one of the last states to disclose election
records in the face of federal inspection rights. Delaware and Massachusetts
recently opened access to their respective registration records pursuant to
PILF’s federal inspection requests. Litigation
is ongoing in Maryland for the same.
Augusta maintains a contradictory record with respect to
disclosure laws in recent years.
-Secretary Dunlap notoriously sued the U.S. Presidential
Advisory Commission on Election Integrity (for which he was a commissioner)
over claims he was excluded from business communications and was therefore due
those records. He later admitted he was “cajole[d]”
into standing as a plaintiff for a third-party organization wishing to
bring the suit.
-Prior to suing his fellow commissioners, Secretary
Dunlap denied the presidential advisory commission’s request for a copy of Maine’s voter
registration roll.
-PILF previously represented a nonprofit organization
that spent more than five years fighting to protect the names of its private donors
from the State of Maine. The foes of PILF’s client complained that PILF’s
client violated Maine’s campaign finance laws. Maine decided to investigate the
organization, seeking sensitive information including donor
identities. There, Maine fought to enforce its disclosure laws over the client’s
concerns about donor harassment.
The Foundation sued
the City of Detroit for failing to maintain its voter list from dead and
duplicate registrants in December 2019. The lawsuit is intended to help ensure
the best voter roll data quality ahead of the 2020 Presidential Election.
The new case was filed in the United States District
Court for the District of Maine. The case number is 1:20-cv-00061. The attorneys
for the Public Interest Legal
Foundation are Noel H. Johnson and Kaylan L. Phillips. Portland-based Stephen
C. Whiting serves as local counsel.
Public
Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) is a 501(c)(3) public interest law firm
dedicated to election integrity. The Foundation exists to assist states and
others to aid the cause of election integrity and fight against lawlessness in
American elections. Drawing on numerous experts in the field, PILF seeks to
protect the right to vote and preserve the Constitutional framework of American
elections. ###
(INDIANAPOLIS, IN) – January 23, 2020. The Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) initiated a private investigative effort into recent official disclosures that Illinois’ automatic voter registration system reportedly invited noncitizen DMV customers onto the voter rolls. More than a dozen are reported to have voted in the 2018 Midterms as a result.
“We’ve warned and proven for
years that Motor Voter was pushing noncitizens onto voter rolls,” PILF President and General Counsel J. Christian Adams said. “Then Illinois and other states made it worse by automating
the process. The Foundation has sent a demand letter under public inspection
rights of the National Voter Registration Act to Illinois for data regarding
the alien voting problem they have and impacts on elections there— like a
sheriff’s race decided by a single ballot.”
Early local news
reports based on statements from the Illinois State Board of Elections indicate
that an alleged programming glitch in its new automatic voter registration
system for DMV customers placed 574 noncitizens into the statewide registry
prior to the 2018 General Election. Of those, at least 19 cast a ballot. The
hundreds of noncitizens were reportedly self-identified, meaning more could
remain masked as citizens within the voter roll to date.
The Foundation
filed a records inspection request with the ISBE to address at least four inquiries:
- Were all of the self-reported 574 noncitizens
actually registered via DMV transactions?
- Is Illinois undertaking any official efforts to
proactively identify remaining registered noncitizens?
- Were noncitizens self-reporting in Illinois
prior to the 574 cases?
- Did any self-reported noncitizens vote in
elections potentially decided by their participation?
The Foundation
intends to distribute a catalog of findings to better educate the general public on official election fraud risks ahead of
the 2020 Elections.
Section 8 of the
National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) empowers any party to physically
inspect local election records related to voter list maintenance efforts.
A copy of the
inspection request letter may be accessed, here.
The Public Interest Legal Foundation is the
nation’s most active public interest law firm dedicated to enforcing the
National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) and ensuring the integrity of American
elections—bringing more than a dozen cases to enforce voter list maintenance
obligations and inspection rights under federal law in federal courts across
the nation in addition to serving as amicus in more than a dozen voting law cases. The Foundation also works with election
officials and policymakers to improve the integrity of elections.
Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) is a 501(c)(3) public interest law firm dedicated to election integrity. The Foundation exists to assist states and others to aid the cause of election integrity and fight against lawlessness in American elections. Drawing on numerous experts in the field, PILF seeks to protect the right to vote and preserve the Constitutional framework of American elections.
###
(BALTIMORE, MD.) – December 16, 2019: The Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) filed a lawsuit today against the Maryland State Board of Elections (MSBOE) for failing to disclose voter registration records under federal law (Public Interest Legal Foundation v. Linda Lamone).
“Maryland is refusing
to follow federal election law and is denying access to public election records
ahead of the 7th Congressional District Special Election and the 2020 contests,” PILF President and General Counsel J. Christian Adams said. “Maryland should choose transparency over
concealing list maintenance records.”
The initial complaint filed today, December 16, explains the Foundation initially requested copies of
Maryland’s statewide voter file and select voting histories on November 13,
pursuant to the application procedure set forth by the MSBOE. The State
notified PILF two days later that its application was denied because the
organization was not local. This reason was given despite an August 2019 court
ruling against the MSBOE, finding that federal inspection rights over such data
supersede state rules preventing outside access.
The Foundation seeks relief under Section 8 of the
National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which requires officials to make voter
list maintenance documents like the voter roll itself available for inspection
to the general public. The law also offers a private right to file a lawsuit if
denied.
In the interest of a speedy resolution ahead of the CD-7
special contests in Spring 2020, the Foundation is also filing for a motion for
summary judgment.
The Foundation recently sued
the City of Detroit, Michigan, for failing to maintain its voter list from
dead and duplicate registrants on December 10. Both lawsuits are intended to
help ensure the best voter roll data quality ahead of the 2020 Presidential
Election.
The new case was filed in the United States District
Court for the District of Maryland. The case number
is 1:19-cv-03564. The attorney for the Public Interest Legal Foundation is
Noel H. Johnson. Baltimore-based Glenn E. Bushel and Richard L. Costella of Tydings
& Rosenberg LLP serve as local counsel.
Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) is a 501(c)(3) public interest law firm dedicated to election integrity. The Foundation exists to assist states and others to aid the cause of election integrity and fight against lawlessness in American elections. Drawing on numerous experts in the field, PILF seeks to protect the right to vote and preserve the Constitutional framework of American elections.
###
Court Rejects Limiting
Inspection to Dead, Relocated Registrants
(HARRISBURG, PA.) – December 13, 2019: The Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) today hailed a federal court decision regarding its effort to inspect records of noncitizens removed from Pennsylvania’s voter roll (Public Interest Legal Foundation v. Pennsylvania).
“We are a major
step closer to understanding how badly Pennsylvania bungled voter registration
by allowing noncitizens to register to vote.,” PILF President and General Counsel J. Christian Adams said. “Election officials should be transparent if
they want Pennsylvanians to have confidence in elections. Hiding documents
about alien registration is bad policy and must end.”
“Pennsylvania wanted our lawsuit
to go away so they could keep records concealed. It isn’t going away, and the
records should be disclosed to the public about how badly government officials
screwed up our election system.”
This litigation commenced in
February 2018. Prior case filings can be found here. A
copy of today’s memorandum is available here.
Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) is a 501(c)(3) public interest law firm dedicated to election integrity. The Foundation exists to assist states and others to aid the cause of election integrity and fight against lawlessness in American elections. Drawing on numerous experts in the field, PILF seeks to protect the right to vote and preserve the Constitutional framework of American elections.
###
City Won’t Clean Dead,
Duplicate Registrations from Roll
(DETROIT, MI.) – December 11, 2019: The Public
Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) filed a lawsuit today against the City of Detroit for failing to reasonably
maintain voter registration records under federal and Michigan law (Public Interest
Legal Foundation v. Detroit).
“The City of
Detroit is failing to perform some of the most basic functions owed to its
citizenry,” PILF President and General Counsel J. Christian Adams said. “The city government’s nonchalant attitude
toward addressing evidence of dead and duplicate registrations exposes yet
another vulnerability in our voting systems as our nation works to improve
election security before November 2020. Making a federal case out of this was necessary, and I hope we can
achieve a resolution before the polls open.”
Detroit Quick Facts
–Voter Registration Rate per 2016 Citizen Voting-Age
Population: 106%
— # of Dead Registrants Aged 85+: 2,503
— # of Registrations flagged for duplicate, triplicate
concerns: 4,788
— # of Registrations Missing Actual Dates of
Registration: 16,465
The initial complaint filed on December 10 explains the Foundation has studied the City’s voter list
maintenance efforts since 2017 by a variety of means. Earlier this year, PILF
acquired the statewide qualified voter file from the Michigan Secretary of
State for the purpose of comparing registration lists against federal death
records. The Foundation ultimately sampled all active registrants whose
respective ages were 85 years or older, finding more than 2,500 within the age
range who were listed in the Social Security Death Index with corresponding
death records and/or obituaries.
The Foundation also studied and catalogued examples of
single registrants who managed to become registered to vote two and even three
times with matching or substantially similar names and other biographical
information within the same addresses. PILF flagged a grand total of 4,788
registration files for duplicate and triplicate concerns. Among them, examples
of married/maiden name conflicts, simple typographical errors, and conflicting
gender designations were trending concerns.
The Foundation also flagged impossibly old and disqualifying young date of birth information held within the voter file. One registrant is stated as being born in “1823,” well before Michigan was annexed into the Union. Another 16,400 registrants were flagged due to the fact that officials did not demonstrate when they actually became registered to vote.
The Foundation seeks relief under Section 8 of the
National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which requires officials to make
“reasonable efforts” to maintain voter lists and offers a private right to file
a lawsuit if standards are not met.
The new case was filed in the United States District
Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. The case number is 2:19-cv-13638.
The attorney for the Public Interest
Legal Foundation is Kaylan L. Phillips. Robert L. Avers of DickinsonWright
PLLC serves as local counsel.
Public
Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) is a 501(c)(3) public interest law firm
dedicated to election integrity. The Foundation exists to assist states and
others to aid the cause of election integrity and fight against lawlessness in
American elections. Drawing on numerous experts in the field, PILF seeks to
protect the right to vote and preserve the Constitutional framework of American
elections. ###
Year-Out Review Finds
Vulnerabilities in Election Systems
(WEST PALM BEACH, FL.)
– November 4, 2019: The Public Interest Legal
Foundation (PILF) today released Calm
Before the Storm: Are Palm Beach County’s Elections Protected Against Emerging
Threats?, a new report detailing a variety of vulnerabilities and data
findings within the overall Palm Beach County voter registration system.
Prior to the
public release of its latest report,
PILF shared its detailed findings with current Palm Beach County Supervisor of
Elections Wendy S. Link (PBSOE). Supervisor Link’s office committed to
reviewing findings and taking necessary corrective actions going forward, while
also sharing other matters beyond her immediate control with the Florida
Secretary of State. Essentially all findings worthy of official action were
created during now-removed Supervisor Susan Bucher’s term of office, or a
predecessor.
“We are one year out from the 2020
General and this report is a stark reminder that you can’t have election
‘security’ without integrity first,” PILF President and
General Counsel J. Christian Adams said.“Palm Beach County serves as an example of
the types of vulnerabilities found within Florida’s voting system that could be
leveraged by an outside saboteur. Our research suggests these problems are
fixable well before the presidential election.
“I want to particularly commend Supervisor Link’s
office for not only providing necessary data during our research, but also
keeping an open door and accepting our findings,” Adams added.
PILF discovered a
variety of apparent flaws
and procedural errors ranging from snowbird double voting, duplicate voter
registration, non-citizen voter participation, illegal addresses, and even deceased
voting.
Summary of
Findings
Interstate
Duplicate Registrations (NY, PA, RI) – 20,479
Interstate Double
Voting in 2016 and/or 2018 – 225
Deceased
Registrants – 2,203
Dead Voters – 139
Individuals
Registered Twice in Palm Beach County – 413
Admitted
Noncitizens Previously Registered – 68
Improper Uses of
Non-Residential Addresses — 68
Calm Before the
Storm follows reports specifically focused on apparent noncitizen voter
participation in Michigan, “sanctuary” cities, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Virginia.
Access to Calm Before the Storm: Are Palm Beach
County’s Elections Protected Against Emerging Threats? is available, here.
Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) is a 501(c)(3) public interest law firm dedicated to election integrity. The Foundation exists to assist states and others to aid the cause of election integrity and fight against lawlessness in American elections. Drawing on numerous experts in the field, PILF seeks to protect the right to vote and preserve the Constitutional framework of American elections.
###
J. Christian Adams joined the Frank Beckmann Show on WJR Detroit today to discuss the Southfield Clerk’s alleged attempts to
invalidate 193 absentee votes in the 2018 midterm election.
https://publicinterestlegal.org/files/audio_00037819_20191001.mp3
“Why 193? Every vote counts.” Adams recalled the 537 vote win for Bush in Florida 2000.
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