An Illinois district court judge ruled last week that state officials must give a coalition of conservative groups access to Illinois’ list of registered voters dating back to the state’s past 15 elections.
In her July 18 decision, Judge Sara Ellis ruled that as part of an agreement between the state and the Illinois Conservative Union (ICU) — a self-described “coalition of [Illinois-based] conservative groups and grassroots activists” — Illinois must provide plaintiffs with “the current centralized statewide list of registered voters for Illinois (the “Illinois Voter Registration List”) in
electronic format.”
According to the ruling, this will give the ICU access to information such as a registrant’s “full name,” “residential street address number and name,” “state voter identification number,” and “status (active or inactive),” among other data. Registrants protected by federal or state statutes mandating confidentiality — such as those protecting stalking victims — would have their information excluded or redacted, however.
“Any violation of this Agreement and the Confidentiality Order, as set forth herein, shall be deemed a material breach of the Agreement,” the ruling reads.
Initially filed by Judicial Watch — a conservative watchdog group — in September 2020, the lawsuit against Illinois alleged that the Democrat-led state “refused to allow the … Illinois Conservative Union and three lawfully registered Illinois voters to obtain a copy of the state’s voter registration list.” While the National Voter Registration Act mandates that states make “all records” related to programs used to ensure accurate voter rolls be made “available for public inspection,”
