Judicial Watch, Inc. v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

On April 29, 2020, Judicial Watch, a conservative activist group, filed a federal lawsuit in the Middle District of Pennsylvania seeking an order to purge thousands of voters from the rolls in three Pennsylvania counties. The complaint alleged that Bucks, Chester, and Delaware Counties were failing to fulfill their duties under the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) to remove ineligible voters from the rolls due to death or address changes. Judicial Watch argued that, according to its analysis, the defendant counties’ high voter registration rates and minimal voter registration removals for failing to vote in two federal elections and failing to respond to a notice to confirm one’s address confirmed this failure.

The NVRA promotes accessible, nondiscriminatory voter registration for federal elections. It also requires states to conduct voter roll maintenance. The law requires states to offer voter registration at state motor vehicle agencies, mail applications, along with public assistance and disability offices. The NVRA also requires that states, “conduct a general program that makes a reasonable effort to remove the names of ineligible voters from the official lists of eligible voters by reason of [..] the death of the registrant; or a change in the residence of the registrant.” States may not remove a registrant unless they failed to return a card sent to them to confirm or update their address and did not vote in the two federal elections since the notice was mailed. The NVRA does not require a state to complete any specific program for removing voters from the rolls; on the contrary, it sets forth rules for when states cannot remove voters, including within 90 days of a federal election and solely because of the voter’s failure to vote.

On May 11, 2020, the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania (LWV Pennsylvania) and Common Cause of Pennsylvania moved to intervene in the case to protect their members’ voter registrations. The motion further asserted that Judicial Watch’s complaint requested unnecessary voter purges that would negatively impact the plaintiffs’ work in promoting voting and civic engagement, particularly in underserved communities. The court granted this motion on November 19, 2020. After continued litigation, a settlement between the parties was reached in May 2023.

The League and its co-plaintiffs are represented in this litigation by ACLU of Pennsylvania, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, ACLU, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP.