Federal Judge Dismisses Right-Wing Lawsuit Seeking Access to Wisconsin Voter Rolls 

A federal judge tossed out a lawsuit from the right-wing Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) seeking to gain unfettered access to Wisconsin’s voter registration rolls — an effort that voting rights advocates feared could result in unlawful voter purges. 

In a complaint filed in May, PILF alleged that Wisconsin is required to share how it maintains its voter rolls under the federal National Voter Registration Act’s (NVRA) Public Disclosure Provision. Although part of the NVRA exempts Wisconsin and five other states from having to disclose their voter rolls, PILF argued that the state’s exemption should be invalidated. 

Aside from Wisconsin, the NVRA currently provides exemptions to Idaho, Minnesota, New Hampshire, North Dakota and Wyoming since these states have continuously allowed for same-day voter registration since Aug. 1, 1994. 

In PILF’s view, Wisconsin’s exemption from the NVRA flouted the “principle of equal state sovereignty” by giving the state differential treatment — an argument that the right-wing group similarly asserted in a separate ongoing case over Minnesota’s exemption. 

But in an order issued yesterday, Obama-appointed Judge James D. Peterson concluded that the “foundation’s claim is not supported by law or logic, so the court will grant the…motion to dismiss.”

Peterson wrote that PILF “has failed to state a claim upon which relief may be granted because Congress did not violate the Tenth Amendment or any other principle of federalism by making Wisconsin and several other states exempt from the NVRA.”

Prior to being sued by PILF, the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) agreed to provide the state’s official voter registration list for a fee, but said it would not include the birth year information sought by the organization because state law allows the commission to restrict access to certain details. 

PILF claimed in its subsequent legal action that it needed voter information beyond what WEC offered in order to adequately “assess the accuracy and currency of the rolls.” The organization also demanded the state waive any fees associated with producing the requested voter records. 

WEC Administrator Megan Wolfe, who was named as a defendant, urged the court to toss out the lawsuit, writing in a court filing that “[n]o matter how it is sliced, the Foundation’s lawsuit fails.” 

“The Foundation seeks to expand a federal law to impose additional burdens on Wisconsin” despite the fact that the “NVRA exempts Wisconsin from its mandates, including the public disclosure mandate,” Wolfe added in her motion to dismiss the lawsuit. 

PILF is currently behind several other active lawsuits aimed at gaining access to voter rolls across Hawaii, Michigan, Minnesota and Nevada. 

Other right-wing and GOP entities — including the Republican National Committee, Voter Reference Foundation and Judicial Watch — are engaged in similar litigation targeting voter rolls in states such as Pennsylvania and Illinois.  

Meanwhile, pro-voting groups, the U.S. Department of Justice and state election officials alike are pushing back against these legal actions, which they characterize as attempts to purge eligible voters and sow distrust. Ahead of the 2024 general election, Democracy Docket tracked a notable increase in the number of lawsuits aimed at purging voters.