Conservative Law Firm Suing Wisconsin's Top Election Administrator Regarding State's Voter Registration List

Tuesday, May 7th, 2024 -- 12:01 PM

(Rich Kremer, Wisconsin Public Radio) A conservative law firm known for filing lawsuits aimed at purging voter rolls is suing Wisconsin’s top election administrator for access to the state’s voter registration list.

According to Rich Kremer wtih Wisconsin Public Radio, the Public Interest Legal Foundation, or PILF, is asking a federal judge to declare that Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Megan Wolfe violated the federal National Voter Registration Act, or NVRA, because the WEC charges for its voter registration list and does not include voters’ dates of birth.

The NVRA was created by Congress in 1993 and requires states to make voter registration lists available for public inspection. Wisconsin and five other states are exempt from the act because they either didn’t have voter registration requirements or, like the Badger State, had same-day registration when the act was signed into law.

Wisconsin’s voter rolls and public access to them are governed instead by state law and overseen by the Elections Commission. The agency’s Badger Votes portal allows anyone to purchase voter registration lists for a fee ranging from $25 up to a cap of $12,500. The data does not include voters’ date of birth, driver license information or social security numbers.

The lawsuit wants Wisconsin’s exemption to the federal law invalidated in light of a 2013 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found part of the federal Voting Rights Act unconstitutional and “reaffirmed ‘the principle that all States enjoy equal sovereignty.’”

They’re also challenging Wisconsin’s $12,500 fee and asking the court to order WEC to provide the state’s voter-registration list with voters’ years of birth.

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