NJSOS: Our Procedures Must be Hidden – Exposes a ‘Critical Vulnerability Within Election Process’   

(Trenton, NJ) – May 18, 2022: The Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF), filed a lawsuit alleging that New Jersey Secretary of State Tahesha Way is violating the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) for refusing to disclose documentation explaining how election officials resolve duplicate voter registrations. PILF’s need for the document(s) arises from recent studies indicating thousands of New Jersey residents are holding duplicate, triplicate, and even quadruplicate voter registrations.

“Americans have a fundamental right under federal law to see precisely how their voter rolls are maintained,” said PILF President, J. Christian Adams. “We can’t let New Jersey set a trend for concealing standard operating procedures for data entry and hygiene as if they were state secrets – especially when we are seeing persons registered three, four, five, and even six times.”

Prior to the lawsuit, PILF alerted the Secretary of State’s office to what appears to be thousands of examples where registrants are stored in duplicate. Tens of thousands of other voter records were highlighted for missing or fictitious biographical information like dates of birth. PILF sought official data maintenance guides with the goal of discerning precisely why the widespread errors were appearing in the voter roll. The Secretary of State’s office’s only response has been to deny access to standard operating procedures commonly made available in other states.

The new lawsuit notes in part, “Each State shall maintain for at least 2 years and shall make available for public inspection and, where available, photocopying at a reasonable cost, all records concerning the implementation of programs and activities conducted for the purpose of ensuring the accuracy and currency of official lists of eligible voters … [The NVRA] contemplates an indefinite number of programs and activities.”

You can access recent case documents here.

The attorneys for the Public Interest Legal Foundation in this case are Maureen Riordan, Noel Johnson, and Philadelphia-based Linda A. Kerns (local counsel).

Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) is the nation’s only public interest law firm dedicated wholly 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. PILF has brought lawsuits and won victories in Texas, Mississippi, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and across the United States.

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