Alexandria, VA (May 4, 2026) – The Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) seeks to intervene in a lawsuit filed by Louisiana aimed at verifying registrants’ citizenship status. As a plaintiff-intervenor, PILF would uniquely advance the State’s effort to collect certain readily available data on federal voter registration forms that will help the State confirm eligibility. (Louisiana v. EAC (Case No. 3:26-cv-01191)).
“Noncitizens have been registering to vote in Louisiana. [PILF] has collected evidence of these registrations in addition to the evidence that the Plaintiffs have found,” reads the Foundation’s complaint. The document also provides visual examples of alien voter registration records.
A 2024 election law reform requires the secretary of state to verify citizenship status for voter registration applicants. State officials requested the U.S. Election Assistance Commission update its Louisiana-specific instructions to require that applicants provide a unique immigration number (or the applicant’s place of birth), sex, and mother’s maiden name during the registration process. State officials would use these data to query government data resources and validate eligibility.
The EAC effectively denied Louisiana’s request, thanks to a split commission vote on the matter. Under the Arizona InterTribal U.S. Supreme Court decision, the State’s next option is to sue the EAC in federal court.
“Louisiana is following the path laid out by Justice Antonin Scalia for a state to properly introduce citizenship verification before the federal government,” PILF President and General Counsel J. Christian Adams said. “Louisiana has every right and authority to define voting qualifications, starting with verified citizenship eligibility.”
The PILF filings further explain the Foundation’s ideal role in the litigation:
“Right now, citizenship verification is an honor system. Louisiana wants to make it a verified system, placing the onus of verification on the State using readily available information in the hands of applicants for voter registration. If Louisiana or the Foundation is successful in this action, the State will have a solution to prevent alien registration, the Foundation’s organizational mission of ensuring only eligible registrants remain on the rolls will be advanced, and the Foundation will be unburdened of its work concerning alien registration in Louisiana.”
The lawsuit was initially filed by Louisiana on April 14, 2026, before the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana (Monroe Division). Noel H. Johnson will represent PILF as lead attorney. New Orleans-based Mark G. Montiel, Jr. of Montiel Hodge LLC serves as local counsel.
The 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.
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