By Diane Nester
For The Office of WV Secretary of State Kris Warner
Charleston – Today the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia dismissed the lawsuit over demands for unredacted West Virginia voter registration data. The lawsuit sought the release of confidential voter information.
After the dismissal of the case, Secretary of State Kris Warner released the following statement:
“Today’s decision by the United States District Court is an important victory for the rule of law, voter privacy, and the dedicated election officials across West Virginia who work every day to ensure the accuracy of our state’s voter registration system.
As the Court noted, the Department of Justice’s “demand includes no indication that West Virginia is suspected to be noncompliant with the list maintenance requirements of [federal law], nor does it point to any anomalies in West Virginia’s voter registration data.”
From the outset, my Office has maintained that West Virginia law prohibits the disclosure of sensitive personal information contained in the statewide voter registration system absent legal authority requiring its release. Today’s ruling confirms that our position was well-founded and consistent with both our statutory obligations and our responsibility to protect the personal information of West Virginia’s registered voters.
As West Virginia’s Chief Election Official, I remain committed to ensuring that our elections are conducted with integrity, transparency, and full compliance with both state and federal law.
We share the Department of Justice’s commitment to enforcing federal voter registration list-maintenance requirements and ensuring that only eligible voters remain on the rolls. Our disagreement has never been with that goal, but with the means sought in this instance, which would have required the disclosure of sensitive personal information in a manner prohibited by West Virginia law.”
