HARRISBURG – An Indianapolis legal advocacy group claims that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has violated the National Voter Registration Act, in allegedly failing to maintain and update its rolls by removing deceased voters.
Public Interest Legal Foundation of Indianapolis, Ind. filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania on Oct. 15 versus Secretary of the Commonwealth Kathy Boockvar, of Harrisburg.
“The Foundation has spent many thousands of dollars reviewing Pennsylvania’s election procedures and documented failures to maintain an accurate and correct voter roll as required by the NVRA. The Foundation’s investigation of the rolls, both then and now, has forced it to incur substantial costs to compare the Commonwealth’s voter rolls to the Social Security Death Index, various commercial databases, and other sources in order to identify deceased voters,” the suit states.
“Defendant’s violations of the NVRA have harmed and continue to harm and frustrate the Foundation’s purpose of protecting the integrity of the electoral process and ensuring that accurate and current voter registration rolls are maintained. The Foundation’s expenditure of significant time and money in Pennsylvania seeking to rectify defendant’s failure to clean up the voter rolls by removing the surfeit of deceased registrants from such rolls has also forced the Foundation to divert its limited resources from other states with similar issues.”
The plaintiff explained that Section 8 of the NVRA requires election officials to “conduct a general program that makes a reasonable effort to remove the names of ineligible voters from the official lists of eligible voters by reason of the death of the registrant.”
Furthermore, the plaintiff adds this provision also “requires that election officials shall complete, not later than 90 days prior to the date of a primary or general election for federal office, any program the purpose of which is to systematically remove the names of ineligible voters from the official lists of eligible voters.”
The suit says the plaintiff’s own investigation in early 2020 showed that about 9,300 deceased individuals remained on the active voter rolls in Pennsylvania.
“In a letter dated May 26, 2020, the Foundation alerted defendant to its research and findings, including the fact that approximately 9,300 registrants appeared to be deceased. In response to the May 26, 2020 letter, defendant asked the Foundation for additional data, which it provided on July 17, 2020,” the suit says.
“After receiving the additional proof indicating that the Commonwealth’s voter rolls are woefully noncompliant with federal law requirements, defendant has refused to communicate further with the Foundation.”
The plaintiff alleges not only has the issue not been rectified, but that it has actually gotten worse. As of both Sept. 21 and Oct. 7, the plaintiff says further investigation showed that more than 21,000 deceased individuals remained on both the active and inactive voter rolls.
“Having a process in place that systematically removes deceased registrants is not just a good idea, it is the law,” per the suit.
“For over 20,000 deceased registrants to be on the voter rolls just weeks before a national election demonstrates emphatically that the Commonwealth has failed to reasonably implement and/or maintain a systematic list maintenance program that complies with federal law requiring deceased electors to be removed from the voter rolls.”
For counts of violation of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 for failure to conduct list maintenance, the plaintiff is seeking extensive relief:
• A declaration that defendant is in violation of Section 8 of the NVRA;
• A declaration that orders the defendant to immediately investigate the deceased registrations identified by plaintiff and remove confirmed deceased registrants from the voter rolls prior to the printing of the poll books, or loading of e-poll books to be used in the Nov. 3, 2020 general election;
• A declaration that orders the defendant to implement and follow a reasonable and effective list maintenance program by Jan. 1, 2021, to cure the violations identified herein and bring the state’s voter rolls into compliance with Section 8 of the NVRA;
• A declaration that orders the defendant to review the Foundation’s data and implement a procedure to flag likely deceased registrant records in advance of election day to ensure that a ballot is not fraudulently cast in their name;
• A declaration that orders the defendant to pay the Foundation’s reasonable attorney’s fees, including litigation expenses and costs, pursuant to 52 U.S.C. Section 20510(c); and,
• Granting plaintiff such further relief as this Court deems just and proper, including all other injunctive relief available to the Court, to ensure that defendant’s failure to comply with Section 8 of the NVRA are cured prior to the 2020 general elections.
The plaintiff is represented by Bradley J. Schlozman of Hinkle Law Firm in Wichita, Kan., John Eastman of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence in Orange, Calif, Linda Ann Kerns of the Law Office of Linda Ann Kerns in Philadelphia and Sue Becker of the Public Interest Legal Foundation, in Indianapolis, Ind.
The defendant is represented by Daniel T. Brier, Donna A. Walsh, John B. Dempsey, Richard L. Armezzani and Suzanne Conaboy of Myers Brier & Kelly in Scranton, plus Stephen Moniak of the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, in Harrisburg.
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania case 1:20-cv-01905
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com