The amicus brief from Jason Snead of the Honest Elections Project supports the suit brought by the Public Interest Legal Foundation urging the Supreme Court to overturn a ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that Hawaii's statewide voter list is not subject to the National Voter Registration Act's public disclosure provision.
"This is a case about transparency," he tells AFN. "States have an obligation under federal law to maintain clean and accurate voter rolls, and the best way to judge whether they're actually doing that is to be able to look at the voter rolls themselves."
In Public Interest Legal Foundation v. Nago, the 1st and 10th Circuit Courts of Appeals both decided that statewide voter registration lists are subject to public disclosure under the National Voter Registration Act of 1993.
The 9th Circuit judges disagreed, ruling that Hawaii has the legal right to keep its statewide voter registration list hidden from public view. They decided the legal foundation did have proper legal standing.
Snead thinks the 9th Circuit was wrong and that the case is ripe for review.
"Even though the National Voter Registration Act clearly says that the public can view records related to list maintenance, once you actually complete the list maintenance, they have the right to conceal the list itself," Snead explains. "So, you can see all of the steps that go into maintaining a voter roll, but you can't actually see the voter roll, and I think that's a pretty absurd position to take."
He says he was "very glad" to file an amicus supporting the Public Interest Legal Foundation in their ongoing fight to get true access to the voter rolls, and he thinks the U.S. Supreme Court should take the case on appeal.
