Legal Battle Over Public Inspection of Maine Voter Rolls Continues

Maine Democrats Stand Opposed

A roadside sign in Maine bearing one of the New England state's slogans (Source: Maine: The Way Life Should Be Facebook group)

Maine Democrats, led by Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, are continuing their long fight to make it harder for people to access and analyze the state’s voter registration rolls.

The battle began in October 2019 when then Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap, a Democrat, denied a request by the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) for a copy of Maine’s state voter registration file and voting histories.

As the reason for the denial, court pleadings cite a state statute that restricted access to the state voter roll and voting histories to a few specified entities such as political parties.

In February 2020, PILF attorneys filed a lawsuit against Mr. Dunlap in the United States District Court of Maine for allegedly violating the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA).

The federal act ensures citizen access to voting records and prohibits “use restrictions” for voter rolls and the fining of so-called violators.

Maine Sect. of State Shenna Bellows. (Dept. of State website photo)

Cross-checking Voter Rolls

One of PILF’s stated objectives for obtaining a copy of the Maine voter rolls and voting histories is to compare them with the voter rolls of the state of New York to determine if any voters were registered to vote in both states.

Many New Yorkers own second homes in the popular resort communities of Maine.

During the course of the litigation, Ms. Bellows’s allies in the state legislature amended the law in a way that allowed broader public access to the voter rolls, but with the proviso that any research performed must be pre-approved by the legislature.

Unreasonable Restrictions

The new law mandated that any analysis of Maine’s voter rolls must be exclusively for the purpose of evaluating Maine’s own compliance with voter list maintenance obligations. Violators of the new statute could be subject to stiff fines.

When the law was passed, PILF’s attorneys celebrated the increase in public access to the state voter file it provided but amended their original complaint in order to challenge the law’s use of restrictions and fines.

J. Christian Adams, president of the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF). (Courtesy of PILF)

PILF said in a statement that, during the course of the lawsuit, it uncovered the fact that the new law was drafted by an alliance comprised of “Maine Secretary of State staffers, sympathetic legislators, and the top lobbyist for the state Democratic Party.”

Also involved in the drafting was the “Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), an organization that waged a legal campaign against the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity in 2017 to block access to states’ voter rolls for interstate research comparisons,” the statement said.

Bellows Loses Round 1

On March 28, the U.S. District Court of Maine ruled that Maine’s restrictions on the use of voter roll data are real obstacles to achieving Congress’s intent for transparency under the NVRA and that the fines are illegal.

PILF President J. Christian Adams said at the time that the ruling was a “monumental victory for election integrity.”

“The use of restrictions would have made it extremely difficult to hold Maine and other election officials accountable,” he said. “This ruling will make other states think twice before passing similar laws.”

Mr. Adams also pointed out that the court’s decision countered increasing efforts by state election administrators across the country “to dictate how concerned citizens may research voter rolls.”

The Fight Continues

Unwilling to accept the U.S. District Court’s decision, Ms. Bellows appealed the ruling to the First Circuit Court of Appeals.

Though her appeal is still pending, Ms. Bellows’s case was dealt a significant blow on July 25 when the U.S. Department of Justice filed an amicus brief supporting PILF’s right to obtain Maine’s voter roll data and to analyze and speak about any errors and violations of federal law that are found.

Following the DOJ filing, PILF released a statement saying the amicus brief adopts the position that “voter rolls are public records and states may not penalize citizens for identifying and communicating about failures by election officials.”

Mr. Adams said, “The public has a right to inspect election records. Maine’s use of restrictions not only infringe on First Amendment rights to speak but also makes it impossible to hold Maine and other election officials accountable for doing a bad job.”

Ms. Bellows did not respond to a phone request for comment by press time.

Court pleadings indicate the Maine Secretary of State’s office acted as it did out of concern for the privacy of the state’s more than one million registered voters.

PILF is a national public interest law firm dedicated to election integrity.

According to its website, the foundation is actively fighting against “lawlessness in American elections” and has brought election integrity lawsuits and won victories in Texas, Mississippi, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.