By Judicial Watch ——Bio and Archives--April 23, 2020
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Because full voter birth dates appear on completed voter registration applications, the Administrator may not bypass the Act by unilaterally revising the Application.In August 2019, Judge Hollander ruled in Judicial Watch's favor in the same case, ordering the State of Maryland to produce voter list data for Montgomery County. She noted then:
Organizations such as Judicial Watch have the resources and expertise that few individuals can marshal. By excluding these organizations from access to voter registration lists, the State law undermines Section 8(i)'s efficacy. Accordingly, [Maryland election law] is an obstacle to the accomplishment of the NVRA's purposes. It follows that the State law is preempted in so far as it allows only Maryland registered voters to access voter registration lists.The judge at the time also asked both Judicial Watch and Maryland to brief the issue of access to birth dates "more fully," and reserved her ruling on that point. This recent ruling resolves the last remaining issue in the case, allowing Judicial Watch access to full voter registration files for Montgomery County registrants. The dispute over the voter registration list arose from an April 11, 2017, notice letter sent to Maryland election officials, in which Judicial Watch explained that Montgomery County had an impossibly high registration rate – over 100 percent of its age-eligible citizenry. The letter threatened a lawsuit if the problems with Montgomery County's voter rolls were not fixed. The letter also requested access to Montgomery County voter registration lists in order to evaluate the efficacy of any "programs and activities conducted for the purpose of ensuring the accuracy and currency of Maryland's official eligible voter lists during the past 2 years." Democrat Maryland officials, in response, went so far as to accuse Judicial Watch of being an agent of Russia, an allegation they later dropped. New federal data released in summer 2019 showed that the number of Montgomery County's voter registrations still appeared to be over 100 percent of its age-eligible citizenry.
"Maryland politicians fought us tooth and nail to keep Judicial Watch from uncovering the full truth about their dirty election rolls," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "This latest court victory will allow Judicial Watch to ensure Maryland and Montgomery County are removing voters who have moved or died long ago."
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Judicial Watch, Inc., a conservative, non-partisan educational foundation, promotes transparency, accountability and integrity in government, politics and the law. Through its educational endeavors, Judicial Watch advocates high standards of ethics and morality in our nation’s public life and seeks to ensure that political and judicial officials do not abuse the powers entrusted to them by the American people. Judicial Watch fulfills its educational mission through litigation, investigations, and public outreach.