League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh seek to intervene in voter-roll lawsuit

Four groups on Monday requested to intervene in a federal lawsuit accusing Allegheny County officials of failing to maintain county voter rolls.

The League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania and of Pittsburgh, along with One Pennsylvania and the Pittsburgh chapter of the A. Philip Randolph Institute, filed a motion in support of the defendants in the lawsuit

The Public Interest Legal Foundation filed the lawsuit last week, naming as defendants Elections Divisions Manager David Voye, County Executive Rich Fitzgerald and Allegheny County Council members at-large Bethany Hallam, D-Ross, and Sam DeMarco III, R-North Fayette, who all serve as members of the Allegheny County Board of Elections.

The lawsuit contends that Allegheny County violated the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which requires officials to make “reasonable efforts” to maintain voter lists.

This includes registering some voters more than once and failing to remove dead voters or incomplete registrations, the lawsuit said.

The League of Women Voters argues that it represents “the interests of organizational members who are eligible registered voters in Allegheny County, each of whom has a cognizable interest in remaining on the voter lists and depend upon the proper enforcement of the National Voter Registration Act,” according to court documents.

“Pittsburgh is the second-most populous city in the state, and the League works in coalition to register as many voters as possible,” Maureen Mamula, president of League of Women Voters of Greater Pittsburgh, said in a statement. “Our work is directly impacted by this case, and we are respectfully asking the court to allow intervention since all three organizations present a unique view that could be valuable in resolving this important issue in time for 2020 elections.”

The League of Women Voters and other parties intervening in the lawsuit are represented by ACLU of Pennsylvania and the New York City-based think tank Demos.

“It is routine and required by law that counties regularly purge their voter registration lists of inactive voters and people who are deceased,” Reggie Shuford, executive director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania, said in a statement. “We will not stand by, however, and allow outside actors to strong-arm the county into excessive purging that leads to the disenfranchisement of eligible voters. Our clients have every reason to defend the interests of their members and voters, and we hope the court recognizes that.”