WASHINGTON,
D.C. – Republican
National Committee (RNC) Chairman Joe Gruters released the following statement
after the RNC filed a lawsuit against Hawaii’s Chief Election Officer, after he
refused to provide information on the state’s voter roll maintenance
procedures:
“Hawaii citizens deserve to have confidence that their state is properly
maintaining voter rolls,” said Chairman Gruters. “Hawaii has a legal
obligation to provide this information and is blatantly breaking their own law.
Hawaii citizens deserve to know if their election officials are cleaning their
voter rolls as required by law, which is why the RNC is suing.”
Background:
- In
March, the RNC submitted a public records request to Hawaii’s Office
of Elections asking for records on the state’s voter roll maintenance
procedures required by the National
Voter Registration Act of 1993
(NVRA).
- Under
the NVRA, states must permit the public to inspect records showing how
voter rolls are maintained.
- Despite
this legal obligation, the Office of Elections refused to say whether it
has any of the records the RNC requested.
- Beyond
Hawaii's obligations under the NVRA, the Office of Elections must comply
with Hawaii's own public records law, which requires disclosure when
federal law mandates public access.
- The
RNC is suing to force the Office of Elections to produce these records as
required by Hawaii law.
- This
lawsuit builds on the RNC’s largest ever nationwide
records requests to 48 states and
D.C. for information on voter roll accuracy from earlier this year.
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