A federal judge didn’t buy Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold’s excuse that dead voters have privacy rights and ordered her to disclose information in a lawsuit that seeks to determine whether the state’s voter rolls are accurate.
Any legitimate prohibitions on disclosing data could be solved by redacting specific information, rather than withholding all of the records, the judge explained.
Griswold wanted the lawsuit dismissed. Colorado Politics reports the judge said no.
The case was brought by the Public Interest Legal Foundation after Griswold refused to permit inspection of voter list maintenance records, including data the state receives from the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), as required by the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA).
Former Justice Department official and president of the foundation Christian Adams said the need for transparency is important because ERIC has a history of inaccuracy.
“Colorado is hiding voter list maintenance documents the public is legally entitled to,” Adams said. “Elections must be free and transparent for Americans to trust their results. Secretary Griswold and ERIC are blocking transparency and violating federal law.”
Colorado along with 30 other states and the District of Columbia outsource the maintenance of its voter rolls to a non-profit organization called ERIC, the foundation said.
That information center regularly provides Griswold with reports showing which registered voters are no longer eligible due to death and relocation, and the law says all records used to add and remove voters are public records.
Yet, Secretary of State Griswold denied the Foundation’s request to inspect the reports ERIC provides to her office.
Until now.