A federal judge in South Carolina ruled Wednesday that an election integrity advocacy organization has the right to review the state’s voter rolls for ineligible voting.
“How then, can a report which identifies the most updated list of eligible South Carolina voters not be a record concerning the efforts made to ensure an accurate and current list of voters?” “The SVRL represents the end-product of the State’s list maintenance activities,” he added.
“Because adherence to South Carolina law would frustrate application of the Federal mandate, the state law must yield.” The SEC, South Carolina’s executive agency responsible for administering elections, argued that state law would prohibit PILF from obtaining the voter records because the group is not a “qualified elector” in South Carolina.
Put simply, the NVRA is a broad statute which covers all records ‘concerning’ efforts made to maintain an accurate and current list of eligible voters,” Anderson wrote.
Because voter rolls are a matter of public information under federal law, the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA), the SEC could not block PILF from reviewing its Statewide Voter Registration List (SVRL), the court’s opinion explained.
U.S. District Court Judge Joseph F. Anderson Jr., an appointee of President Ronald Reagan, ruled that the South Carolina State Election Commission (SEC) could not block the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) from reviewing the Palmetto State’s voter rolls, despite it being an out-of-state organization.
“South Carolina’s prohibition on the distribution of the SVRL to only eligible South Carolina voters conflicts with the NVRA’s mandate that all records concerning maintenance and accuracy activities be made available for ‘public inspection,’” Anderson wrote.
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