TRENTON, N.J. (Legal Newsline) – New Jersey’s secretary of state is fighting in court to keep from having to fork over the online instruction manual for its Statewide Voter Registration System.
Tahesha Way on June 23 filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought in May by the Public Interest Legal Foundation, which alleges it is being denied access to records. PILF says on March 25 a request for information regarding cancelling duplicate voter registration records was denied.
New Jersey said the info was confidential because its disclosure would expose critical vulnerability within the state’s election process.
"By denying the Foundation the ability to obtain the requested voter list maintenance records, Defendant is also impairing the Foundation’s ability to... (1) assess compliance by New Jersey with state and federal voter list maintenance obligations and (2) aid New Jersey in carrying out its voter list maintenance programs and activities," the suit says.
PILF is seeking access to the Voter Module, essentially an online instruction manual for SVRS, Way’s motion says. Way says nothing in state law or case law requires her to provide it.
“To begin, the complaint fails to allege how the software manual for the State’s secure voter database falls under the (National Voter Registration Act’s) definition of a ‘record concerning the implementation of programs and activities conducted for the purpose of ensuring the accuracy and currency of official lists of eligible voters,’ under the NVRA,” the motion says.
“And at its core, the NVRA requires public disclosure of documents that will allow requestors to evaluate whether a state is keeping its voter registrations accurate and current – i.e., whether eligible voters are being registered and whether ineligible voters are being rejected or removed from the rolls.
“The Voter Module simply does not do that.”
The Voter Module doesn’t contain information about registered voters or information regarding policies and procedures for registering or removing voters, Way’s motion says.
“Instead, disclosure of the Voter Module would put the State’s election security at risk by giving a blueprint to bad actors to manipulate the SVRS system,” the motion says.