Norristown, Pennsylvania – Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections (“RITE”), a non-profit organization which supports litigation to protect election security and integrity, today announced a significant victory in a case it filed earlier this month against Montgomery County, Pennsylvania regarding its unlawful use of its voter services van.
RITE was compelled to file this lawsuit after Montgomery County refused to do something very simple: Provide notice, 24-hours in advance, about the locations where the van would be conducting election-related services, including the distribution and acceptance of absentee ballots. The public has a right to this information, but for reasons known only to its officials, Montgomery County did not want to provide it.
Today, the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas put an end to these games. It has ordered Montgomery County officials to post notices about the van’s operations at the county’s main office and at the location where the van will be. Absent exigent circumstances, this notice must be posted 24 hours in advance. This ruling will ensure that Montgomery County cannot conduct election operations out of the view of the public, enhancing trust in the process. This win is yet another reminder of the importance of conducting election operations, including voter registration operations, in full view of the public, particularly as other counties work to contain the fallout from the submission of thousands of fraudulent voter registration applications.
“This is a great victory for transparency and equal access to election-related services under the law,” said Derek Lyons, President and CEO of RITE. “Montgomery County’s voter services van was the first of its kind, so it was important to establish that it be used properly to avoid sowing distrust in the election process among citizens. Conducting election operations beyond view of the public is exactly the kind of thing we should all strongly oppose.”
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