Under federal law, Americans have a right to see how their voter rolls are maintained.
(Trenton, NJ) – November 9, 2022: In May, the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) filed a lawsuit alleging that New Jersey Secretary of State, Tahesha Way, was violating the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) by refusing to disclose documentation explaining how election officials resolve duplicate voter registration records. Today, the Court ruled the Secretary of State must turn over these documents to the Foundation within 45 days.
“We discovered tens of thousands of errors in New Jersey’s voter rolls including an individual registered six times,” said PILF President, J. Christian Adams. “When we requested documents to try and figure out why these errors were happening, Secretary Way refused to provide what we asked for. This ruling, conveniently a day after the election, will help bring transparency back to New Jersey elections.
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. You can read the foundation’s full report on the errors in the voters here.
You can read full court opinion 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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