Last month, the United States District Court issued an order requiring Alaska to disclose ERIC data reports.

(Alexandria, VA) – October 3, 2023: The United States District Court in Colorado denied Secretary of State, Jena Griswold’s motion to dismiss the Public Interest Legal Foundation’s (PILF) lawsuit to obtain Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) data reports concerning potentially deceased registrants on the state’s voter rolls.

ERIC is an interstate compact that provides member states with reports showing which registrants are likely deceased. States, like Colorado, rely on those reports to decide who is no longer eligible to vote. As part of ERIC’s membership agreement, states are not allowed to share ERIC reports with the public.

This secrecy violates the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA), which gives the public a right to inspect voter rolls and voter list maintenance documents.

In the opinion, the Court states that the “Foundation has sufficiently alleged the ERIC records it seeks are concerned with implementing a program or activity under the NVRA” and the “NVRA’s disclosure provision should be construed in favor of broad disclosure.”

“Following our landmark victory in Alaska to knock down ERIC’s wall of secrecy, we have had another victory in our fight to obtain ERIC data reports,” said PILF President J. Christian Adams. “Colorado’s Secretary of State Jena Griswold should stop fighting transparency and hand over these ERIC reports. Other ERIC member states should take notice that under federal law the public has a right to inspect ERIC reports.”

Last month, PILF successfully obtained an order from the United States District Court in Alaska to disclose ERIC data reports concerning potentially deceased registrants on the state’s voter roll, including deaths that have occurred within the last three years. This was the first time ERIC data reports were ordered disclosed by a federal court.

PILF has two other ongoing lawsuits in Louisiana and the District of Columbia to obtain ERIC reports and to affirm the public’s federal right to inspect information used to decide who is and who is not eligible to vote.

Noel Johnson is the Foundation’s attorney in this case.

Access case documents for Public Interest Legal Foundation v. Griswold here.

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.

###

For media inquiries, please reach out to Lbowman@publicinterestlegal.org