Virginia Election Officials Sued for Denying Access to Voter Files
Voter Protections Newsletter Volume 5 Issue 2
February 18, 2010
NORFOLK - Leading voter protection groups, including Advancement Project and Project Vote, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Norfolk, earlier this week, charging state and local elections officials with violating federal law in denying access to voter registration records.
According to the suit, Elisa Long, general registrar of Norfolk, and Nancy Rodrigues, secretary of the State Board of Elections, blocked access to Norfolk's rejected voter registration applications when Advancement Project and Project Vote sought to determine whether qualified persons were unlawfully kept off the voting rolls.
The groups sought the records after receiving reports from their local community partners regarding large numbers of rejected voter registration applications, particularly from students at the historically African-American Norfolk State University.
"The rejection rate by the Norfolk City registrar in advance of the historic 2008 presidential election was troubling, given the high influx of new voter registration applications that came from low-income, minority, college student, and military applicants, said Bradley E. Heard, senior attorney at Advancement Project and co-counsel for the plaintiff in the case. "We are concerned that the registrar may have been using arbitrary and immaterial standards as the basis for rejecting voter registration applications," he said. "We want to get to the bottom of this issue in advance of the 2010 midterm election cycle."
Yolanda Sheffield, director of election administration for Project Vote, the named plaintiff in the suit, stated that blocking access to the voter registration records was illegal.
"The right of advocacy organizations and any other member of the public to inspect and copy those records and other records relating to voter registration activities is clearly permissible under the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA)," Sheffield said. "We believe that eligible persons may have been prevented or discouraged from voting as Virginia residents in the 2008 presidential election."
The NVRA has a public disclosure provision mandating states to adhere to certain requirements. In particular, the provision requires that records relating to the implementation of voter registration programs and activities be made available to the public for inspection and photocopying upon request. Virginia law, by contrast, prohibits many voter registration records - including rejected voter registration applications - from being disclosed. Advancement Project and Project Vote notified the Norfolk registrar and the State Board of Elections last summer about the conflict between Virginia law and federal law and urged them to ensure their procedures comply with federal law.
Last fall, however, state officials indicated that they did not believe a conflict existed, and they determined that the Norfolk registrar's office acted properly in accordance with state law.
It's essential that the public be able to view these records, said Sheffield. "Without access to the records we cannot determine whether the applications were properly rejected and/or whether any systemic election administration problems exist within the Norfolk General Registrar's Office that need correction" she said.
"It appears that the Commonwealth of Virginia is more interested in cloaking the activities of public election officials in secrecy than safeguarding the rights of citizens to vote."
Working with Advancement Project and Project Vote on this suit are pro bono cooperating attorneys from the law firm of Ropes & Gray LLP.
