Judicial Watch settled its election integrity lawsuit against Pennsylvania after the commonwealth acknowledged it removed more than 178,000 ineligible registrations on its voter rolls, the watchdog group announced Thursday.
The settlement commits the commonwealth and five of its counties to publicly reporting the number of registered and eligible voters, both active and inactive, for the next five years. “[Pennsylvania] also agreed to publish the total number of address confirmation notices sent to registered voters and the number returned as undeliverable or not responded to,” according to Judicial Watch, and “the total number of voters removed from the registration rolls on account of death, or for failing to respond to an address confirmation notice and failing to vote in the two most recent federal general elections.” Additionally, Pennsylvania must cover $15,000 in Judicial Watch’s legal costs and fees.
Judicial Watch had alleged Pennsylvania failed to maintain accurate voter rolls per federal law and sent a notice-of-violation letter to the Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth on April 22, 2021. Five months later, Pennsylvania told the court that it took immediate steps to address the issues raised by the watchdog group and removed all inactive voters eligible for removal, totaling 178,258.
“Pennsylvania’s election rolls are cleaner – and will remain cleaner – thanks to Judicial Watch," the group's president, Tom Fitton, said in a statement. "This federal lawsuit settlement is good news for voters in Pennsylvania who want to ensure that only eligible voters are on voter rolls. Judicial Watch’s remarkable run of litigation successes resulted in well over 2 million ineligible registrations being removed from voter rolls across the nation in the last two years!”
Pennsylvania admitted in court filings that it removed 178,258 ineligible registrations in response to communications from Judicial Watch (2/3). https://t.co/12BstA4OGI
— Judicial Watch ⚖️ (@JudicialWatch) May 11, 2023
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