A federal judge has dismissed the U.S. Department of Justice’s lawsuit against Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams and the Kentucky State Board of Elections over access to the state’s unredacted voter registration records.
In a ruling issued last week, U.S. District Judge Claria Horn Boom granted motions to dismiss filed by the defendants, finding that Kentucky is not required to provide the confidential voter information the Justice Department sought.
The lawsuit centered on the Department of Justice’s request for Kentucky’s complete statewide voter registration database, including personal information such as dates of birth, driver’s license numbers, partial Social Security numbers and residential addresses.
Judge Boom relied on a recent decision by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in United States v. Benson, concluding that the disclosure requirements under the Help America Vote Act do not apply to the confidential voter information requested by the federal government.
Jefferson County Clerk David Yates, who intervened in the case, welcomed the ruling.
“Kentucky voters have nothing to hide, and election officials fully complied with every legal obligation throughout this process. What we would not do is surrender confidential personal information that the law protects,” Yates said in a statement.
Yates said the decision affirms that election transparency can coexist with protecting voters’ private information.
The federal government has until September 21 to appeal the ruling to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Source: WHAS11
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