The Republican National Committee (RNC) sued Maryland election officials on Friday over their alleged failure to maintain their voter rolls.
Registration in several Maryland counties is “impossibly high,” with two of the state’s biggest counties reporting more registered voters than adult citizens, according to the lawsuit. Ten other counties have registration rates that exceed 95% of adult citizens, though 2022 U.S. Census Bureau data indicates the state’s registration rate is only around 75.6%.
“Marylanders deserve to have confidence in their elections and to know that their state is properly maintaining its voter rolls,” RNC Chair Joe Gruters said. “The State Board of Elections has failed to do its job and remove ineligible or deceased voters from its rolls. Marylanders have a right to accurate voter rolls, which is why the RNC is suing today.”
Elections officials are not making reasonable efforts to meet requirements of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), the lawsuit alleges.
READ:
RNC Maryland Voter Roll Lawsuit by Katelynn Richardson
The Maryland State Board of Elections did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Office of Legislative Audits of the Maryland General Assembly found in October 2023 that the State Board of Elections’ review of its voter registration data “remained inadequate.” An audit discovered “2,426 potentially deceased individuals with active voter registration and 327 individuals with potential duplicate voter registrations,” according to the report.
Failure to maintain voter lists “burdens the right to vote of the individual Plaintiffs and all individual members of the RNC and MDGOP who are lawfully registered to vote in Maryland by undermining their confidence in the integrity of the electoral process, discouraging their participation in the democratic process, and instilling in them the fear that their legitimate votes will be nullified or diluted by unlawful votes,” the lawsuit states.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) also filed a federal lawsuit against Maryland on Tuesday for failing to produce its voter registration lists.
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