SPRINGFIELD, Illinois (LifeSiteNews) – Illinois election officials must allow an election integrity group to access its voter records and make copies of them, according to a March 8 ruling in a federal district court.
Judge Sue Myerscough ruled that the Land of Lincoln violated the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) when it refused to allow the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) to make copies of voter election records in January 2020.
A PILF staffer could travel to the state capital of Springfield and view records on a computer at the Illinois State Board of Elections office, but could not make copies of any of the information.
PILF advocates for cleaning up voter rolls and frequently runs analyses on dead, absentee, or out-of-state voters as part of its election integrity efforts.
“On January 31, 2020, a representative from the Foundation traveled to the Board’s office in Springfield, Illinois to attempt to view the statewide voter registration list,” the March 8 decision stated. “Once there, the representative was given access to a program to search the list but was not allowed to either view the list in full or print, duplicate, or download the list.”
This violated federal law, Judge Myerscough ruled. She found that an Illinois law that limits the duplication of voting records conflicted with the federal NVRA’s Public Disclosure Provision.
“Section 5/1A-25 conflicts with the Public Disclosure Provision,” the federal judge wrote.
“The Foundation has shown that, on the undisputed material facts, Defendants acted in violation of the Public Disclosure Provision of the NVRA when Defendants refused to make available for viewing and photocopying the full statewide voter registration list,” she stated.
Illinois election officials were ordered to “make available to the public the statewide voter registration list, allowing for redaction of telephone numbers, Social Security Numbers, street numbers of home addresses, birthdates, identifiable portions of email addresses, and other highly sensitive personal information.”
They also are required to pay attorneys’ fees to PILF. The election integrity organization praised the ruling.
“Election officials must allow citizens to see what they are doing,” PILF President J. Christian Adams said in a press release.
“Federal law allows everyone to see what is going on in election offices,” he said. “PILF has found dead and duplicate registrants and voters registered in multiple states.”
“Voter rolls are public, and the court said so. This is the second ruling this week that the Foundation has won to gain access to voter rolls,” he said. “Accurate voter rolls are essential to free and fair elections.”
A federal judge in Maine ruled on March 4 the legal foundation’s lawsuit against the state can move forward. PILF wants access to the voter records in Maine.
“This ruling is a victory for election integrity,” Adams said in response to the Maine victory.