HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The Republican National Committee (RNC) has filed a lawsuit against the Hawaii Office of Elections, after its Chief Election Officer allegedly refused to provide information on the state’s voter roll maintenance procedures.
The suit was filed in Honolulu’s First Circuit Court on Tuesday.
The suit claims the RNC filed a public records request to Hawaii’s Office of Elections on March 25, requesting access to records on the state’s voter roll maintenance procedures required by the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA).
The suit claims that under those NVRA obligations, all states are required to “conduct a general program that makes a reasonable effort to remove the names of ineligible voters from the official lists of eligible voters. ”
The suit claims that despite this legal obligation, the Office of Elections refused to disclose whether it had the records of the requested material.
The suit states that the March request “made clear that to the extent the RNC was requesting non-public voter registration information, the RNC was doing so for election purposes only.”
Hawaii’s law states that the counties are responsible for maintaining and updating voter rolls, not the state. The suit acknowledged that Chief Election Officer Scott Nago had therefore advised the RNC to contact the counties directly.
In the suit, an email to the Office of Elections argues that the RNC, “would find it highly unlikely that the Hawaii Office of Elections has absolutely no memos, manuals, policies, emails, or voter registration data.”
RNC Chairman Joe Gruters released the following statement Tuesday.
“Hawaii has a legal obligation to provide this information and is blatantly breaking their own law. Hawaii citizens deserve to know if their election officials are cleaning their voter rolls as required by law, which is why the RNC is suing.”
On Wednesday, Hawaii News Now reached out to Chief Election Officer Scott Nago for a comment on the lawsuit filed by the RNC.
Nago said they have not been served the lawsuit yet and thus haven’t reviewed it. He added that they do not comment on pending litigation.
In March, the RNC filed similar public records requests to almost every state as part of the Republican Party’s campaign to determine if ineligible voters are casting ballots.
The full lawsuit can be accessed here.
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