Prairie State Wire

The Illinois Conservative Union is breathing a sigh of relief following a federal court’s ruling allowing a suit against Illinois officials who have denied public access to the state’s voter registration database to move forward.

"Thank you to our friends at Judicial Watch,” the group posted on Facebook. “Our Illinois Conservative Union lawsuit against the Illinois State Board of Elections is proceeding well. We want to say a special thank you to David Shestokas for getting the ball rolling on this entire effort. He is one of our Senior Fellows with Illinois Conservative Union and has helped us tremendously with our election integrity efforts. Without David’s help, this would not have come about.”

ICU officers Carol Davis, Janet Shaw and Loretta Savee are all named as plaintiffs in the suit, which comes after they claim Illinois state officials denied their lawful request and refused to allow them to obtain a copy of the state’s voter registration database.

The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) provides that states “shall make available for public inspection and, where available, photocopying at a reasonable cost, all records concerning the implementation of programs and activities conducted for the purpose of ensuring the accuracy and currency of official lists of eligible voters.”

The suit further alleges when members of the ICU sought access to the state’s voter list they were told they must view the database one record at a time, on a single computer screen, during “normal business hours,” at the State Board of Elections office in Springfield, Illinois, which is 200 miles from where they live. The state’s voter rolls top 8 million voters.

In rendering her decision, United States District Court Judge Sarah L. Ellis stipulated, “Plaintiffs have plausibly alleged that Illinois law conflicts with and frustrates the NVRA’s purpose of providing voter information to the public to help ensure the accuracy and currency of voter registration rolls.”

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said the group felt compelled to take action.

“Dirty voter rolls can mean dirty elections – which is one reason why federal law requires access to voting rolls,” he said. “This court ruling further affirms that Illinois voters and citizens have a right to review election rolls under federal law. Illinois’ stubborn and unlawful refusal to make them available suggests the state knows the rolls are a mess.”

Judicial Watch previously sued North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Colorado for failing to clean their voter rolls.