(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch today announced that District Court Judge Matthew J. Maddox of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland struck down a Maryland State Board of Elections regulation that restricted and criminalized the use of voter registration lists for voter fraud and other “investigations.” Citing a separate Judicial Watch court victory in Maryland that opened up voter rolls to public scrutiny under federal law, the court recognized that restricting the use of the state’s voter rolls presented an obstacle to upholding federal voter roll maintenance as required by the National Voter Registration Act’s (NVRA).
This ruling comes in the case Katherine Strauch Sullivan, et al., v. Michael G. Summers, et al., (No. 1:24-cv-00172), in which Judicial Watch filed an amicus curiae (friend of the court court) brief in support of the Maryland voters who challenged the new rule:
One of the many necessary documents in order to determine whether a jurisdiction is in compliance with the NVRA’s list maintenance provisions are the voter registration list with voter history for prior general federal elections. These records were at issue in 2017, when Judicial Watch sued in this Court alleging that the state law requirement to be a Maryland registered voter was unlawful and preempted by the NVRA’s public disclosure provision…. This Court agreed, finding that both the records requested in the voter registration list were subject to disclosure under the NVRA and the state’s requirement to be a registered voter frustrated the purposes of the federal law and was preempted by it.
As several federal courts have recognized, the public records provisions of the National Voter Registration Act were intended to enhance the ability of private groups to monitor whether states are removing ineligible voters from their voter rolls. In August 2019, a federal court in Maryland noted that organizations “such as Judicial Watch” have “the resources and expertise that few individuals can marshal. By excluding these organizations from access to voter registration lists,” the purpose of the federal law is undermined. That court ordered Maryland to produce the voter registration list, with fields indicating name, home address, most recent voter activity, and active or inactive status. In April 2020, the same court ordered Maryland to provide Judicial Watch with the dates of birth.
Judge Maddox notes in his opinion: “On or around June 2023, the SBE [Maryland State Board of Elections] adopted the regulation restricting the use of voter registration lists by Maryland voters who request them.”
A voter requesting access to the voter registration list, including voting history, must provide a signed and sworn statement that the list is not intended for commercial solicitation or any other purpose “not related to the electoral process.” …
As they have done in the past, Plaintiffs [Sullivan] anticipate using the registered voter list from the SBE [State Board of Elections] and voting histories for registered voters to conduct statewide investigative canvasses to identify and analyze what they believe are potential errors, irregularities, or anomalies within MDVOTERS [voter database going back to 2006].
Judge Maddox’s memorandum opinion concludes:
In sum, the Court concludes as a matter of law that the Use Restriction in COMAR [Code of Maryland Regulations] … presents an obstacle to accomplishing and executing the purposes and objectives of the NVRA [National Voter Registration Act] and is, therefore, preempted.
“This new federal court ruling affirming transparency requirement for voter registration list is an important victory for Maryland voters and election integrity,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “It was truly outrageous Maryland election officials tried to criminalize voters asking questions about election integrity.”
Judicial Watch is a national leader in voting integrity and voting rights. As part of its work, Judicial Watch assembled a team of highly experienced voting rights attorneys who stopped discriminatory elections in Hawaii, and cleaned up voter rolls in California, Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky, among other achievements.
Earlier this month, Judicial Watch sent a notice letter to Lt. Governor Deidre M. Henderson, notifying her that Utah is currently in violation of federal NVRA public disclosure requirements. The notice letter warns of a lawsuit after 90 days if the issues are not resolved.
In July 2023, Judicial Watch filed an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief, supporting the decision of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine, which struck down Maine’s policy restricting the use and distribution of the state’s voter registration list. The lawsuit is now in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. According to a national study conducted by Judicial Watch in 2020, Maine’s statewide registration rate was 101% of eligible voters.
Also in July 2023, Judicial Watch settled a federal lawsuit against the Illinois State Board of Elections, requiring it to grant access to its centralized statewide list of registered voters. State officials had refused to allow the nonprofit Illinois Conservative Union and three lawfully registered Illinois voters to obtain a copy of the state’s voter registration list, despite their lawful request for those records under federal law.
In recent years, Judicial Watch’s analysis and use of voter registration lists has led to lawsuits and legal actions that have resulted in the removal of four million names from voter rolls in nearly a dozen states and localities, including Los Angeles County and New York City.
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