Election Lawyer Christian Adams on Michigan Voter Roll Issues and NVRA Loopholes

National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) Loopholes

• 📜 Christian Adams argues that the NVRA's requirement for states to "conduct a general program that makes a reasonable effort to remove the names of ineligible voters" has been interpreted by courts to mean very little.
• ⚖️ Panels from the Sixth and 11th Circuit Courts of Appeals have concluded that the mere existence of a list maintenance program is sufficient, regardless of its effectiveness.
• 🔑 This interpretation undermines the original intent of the NVRA, which was passed with a compromise for meaningful list maintenance standards.

Michigan Voter Roll Inaccuracies

• 💀 Adams claims that Michigan's Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson, had over 25,000 dead registrants on active voter rolls, with some registered decades after death.
• 📉 Despite these numbers, the Sixth Circuit ruled that a "rational and sensible attempt" to remove dead registrants is sufficient, not necessarily a successful or effective one.
• 👎 This standard is criticized as an "F for outcome" despite an "A for effort" from the court's perspective.

Broader Voter Roll Issues

• 🔄 Problems with voter rolls often stem from registration errors, including non-citizens voting, duplicate registrations (sometimes up to six for a single voter), and missing voter information.
• 📬 These errors can lead to wasted campaign resources due to extra mailings and potential confusion for voters.
• 🔍 The Public Interest Legal Foundation found approximately 18,000 apparently deceased registrants in Maine, along with numerous intrastate and interstate duplicates.

Proposed Solutions

• 🛠️ Congress has the power to fix the NVRA's list maintenance standards to ensure more effective voter roll cleaning.
• 📊 One suggested method to improve list maintenance is for states to utilize commercial credit data to identify and remove ineligible voters.
• 🗣️ Adams also notes that the First Circuit struck down a Maine statute that penalized the Public Interest Legal Foundation for reporting findings on voter rolls.