Right-wing legal group sues to obtain Oklahoma’s voter rolls

A conservative legal group with a long record of promoting voter roll purges sued Oklahoma Tuesday, demanding access to its voter registration list just months after the state agreed to hand over sensitive voter data to the Trump administration.

The lawsuit underscores how the administration’s nationwide push for state voter rolls is bolstering efforts in the same direction by outside right-wing groups eager to pare the rolls.

The Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) filed a federal lawsuit accusing Oklahoma State Election Board Secretary Paul Ziriax of violating the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) by refusing to turn over the state’s full statewide voter registration list.

PILF has repeatedly tried to use the public disclosure provisions in the NVRA — a landmark 1993 pro-voting law that expanded access to voter registration — as a tool to obtain voter data, scrutinize registration records and lay the groundwork for aggressive voter purges.

The new lawsuit targets an Oklahoma law that PILF says prohibits nonresidents and out-of-state organizations from purchasing the state’s voter rolls. Under the law, full access to the electronic voter list is limited to Oklahoma residents, candidates, political parties and people otherwise authorized by the law.

PILF, which is based in Virginia, argues that the restriction is illegal because the NVRA gives the “public” access to voter list maintenance records.

“Oklahoma’s electronic voter list does not fall under ‘records concerning the implementation of programs and activities conducted for the purpose of ensuring the accuracy and currency of official lists of eligible voters’ as defined by the NVRA,” Ziriax wrote in a May 8 letter to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) quoted in the complaint. “The Oklahoma State Legislature has exercised its authority under the United States and Oklahoma Constitutions to limit access to this list.”

PILF is asking the court to declare Oklahoma’s access restrictions invalid and force the state to provide the group with the voter roll.

“By denying the Foundation the ability to obtain records it otherwise could obtain under the Public Disclosure Provision of the NVRA, 26 O.S. § 7-103.2(B)(1) conflicts with federal law,” PILF wrote. “Oklahoma’s access restrictions found in 26 O.S. § 7-103.2(B)(1) are therefore preempted, invalid, and unenforceable.”

The group says it wants the records to analyze Oklahoma’s voter list maintenance practices and publish a report about alleged issues in the rolls.

“Among other things, the Foundation’s planned report may document deceased registrants, duplicated records, and other errors, mistakes, and inaccuracies,” the complaint states. “Because Defendant is denying the Foundation full access to the Statewide Voter Registration List, the Foundation cannot draft and publish this planned report or conduct the planned comparison.”

That stated goal fits squarely within PILF’s broader campaign. 

The group has launched similar efforts in other states, often casting voter roll access as transparency while pushing claims that can fuel mass challenges and removals. Courts have delivered mixed results in PILF cases, with the group winning some access fights and losing others.

In March, Oklahoma agreed to give the Trump DOJ its full voter rolls, including sensitive personal data the state had previously resisted providing, after the department sued the state. 

Voting rights advocates have warned that DOJ’s nationwide push for voter data could pressure states into surrendering sensitive voter information even as no courts have endorsed the department’s legal theories thus far.