A federal appeals court has ruled in favor of a conservative-backed group, concluding that Maine’s restrictions on the release of voter lists violated the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA).
In a ruling on Feb. 2, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit said that disseminating voter file information to the public is “necessary” if members of the public or organizations are “ever to identify, address, and fix irregularities in states’ voter rolls by exercising their private right of action under the NVRA.”
The court said the evaluation of voter registration rolls “would be impossible if the results of Maine’s voter list registration and maintenance activities were not subject to public disclosure.”
In addition, the court ruled that Maine’s fines and restrictions on the use of voter roll data are “real obstacles” to achieving Congress’ intent for transparency and oversight under the NVRA.
Organization spokesperson Lauren Bowman said the group sued to ensure its researchers can compare voter rolls in one state against those in another and that it had no intention of publishing the rolls.
PILF President J. Christian Adams called the decision a “monumental victory for transparency in elections.”
Mr. Adams said in a statement that Maine’s restrictions “would have prohibited basic voter roll research and limited PILF’s ability to share its findings with the public,“ and that ”PILF was prohibited from comparing Maine’s and New York’s voter rolls” to identify duplicate registrations.
“Other states should think twice before passing laws that restrict the public from accessing the voter file and speaking about any errors,” he added.
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said she remains “deeply concerned” because voter information has been previously shared online, something state officials had argued could subject voters to harassment.
“No Mainers should be afraid that by registering to vote that their information will be published online and that they’ll face threat, harassment and other harms,” Ms. Bellows, a Democrat, said in a statement.
Rules governing voter lists vary by state. Nearly every state, including Maine, prohibits using the rolls for commercial purposes and several confine access to political candidates and parties for campaign purposes.
Maine still has some prohibitions, such as protecting the addresses of people who have received a protection-from-abuse order, Ms. Bellows said.
