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RITE Year-End Update

Three Years of Advancing Election Integrity

From stopping a disastrous Arizona ballot initiative dead in its tracks, to successfully defending new voter ID laws in Ohio and New Hampshire, RITE has quickly become the national nonprofit leader in litigating for election integrity. In just its first three years, RITE and RITE PAC have participated in 66 lawsuits and initiatives in 28 states, covering virtually all aspects of election processes. We’ve gone to court to preserve and promote voter ID laws, absentee voting safeguards, clean voter rolls, and citizen-only voting. RITE has also sued to ensure election officials act transparently and follow the law. It has been an honor to lead RITE as President in 2025 and, with your support, we have made tremendous progress in protecting our election processes nationwide.

RITE notched several big wins this year, including before a liberal Maryland federal court, ensuring public access to records that reveal whether states are removing dead voters, noncitizens, and nonresidents. We continued our efforts there by forcing county officials to release unredacted registration records for Ian Andre Roberts, an illegal alien serving as the School Superintendent in Des Moines, Iowa when he was arrested by ICE. Roberts is not only a noncitizen but also a nonresident who remained registered years after leaving Maryland. RITE will continue pressing state officials to do more to prevent noncitizen registration, remove nonresidents, and demand accountability.

RITE PAC also successfully defended attacks on Florida’s robust registration verification processes and Georgia’s absentee ballot application deadline. On offense, we sued Arizona to block nonresident voting and recently beat the state’s motion to dismiss and are nearing final victory in a similar suit against North Carolina. RITE developed the innovative legal theory behind both cases and plans to bring more suits against states with similar laws. RITE also helped persuade the Supreme Court to hear cases from Illinois and Mississippi that would require mail ballots be returned by election day nationwide.

Finally, we encourage you to read about RITE’s recent enforcement actions against New York and New Mexico for Help America Vote Act (HAVA) violations that bypass critical voter identity checks, as well as my testimony before Congress on behalf of RITE on strengthening voter roll maintenance nationwide.

What’s Ahead in 2026

Looking ahead to 2026, we know that there are forces that will attempt to weaken election security headed into the midterm elections. Against that backdrop, we have important pending cases in Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Vermont. These suits address key election integrity issues including absentee voter verification and other absentee safeguards, verifying new registrants, noncitizen voting, and unlawful rulemaking by election officials.
 
A federal election year also means more litigation and needed oversight, particularly of liberal Secretaries of State. We already have a few exciting cases prepared. We will also expand our HAVA investigations to protect the integrity of our voter registration system and participate in important election cases before the Supreme Court.
 
It will be a busy year and our opponents are motivated and well-resourced. While many assume RITE’s courtroom battles are limited to facing Democrat “superlawyer” Marc Elias, he represents just a few of the dozens of progressive groups we encounter in courtrooms nationwide—many backed by elite law firms that work pro bono or at a discount to dismantle election integrity safeguards supported by broad majorities of Americans.
 
RITE has made this a fairer fight, but the truth is progressives still vastly outspend conservatives on these issues. As we face a well-funded and motivated cabal of election integrity opponents, we ask that conservatives and interested donors prioritize supporting our efforts. Please email me at JustinRiemer@riteusa.org about ways you can support RITE. You can also donate to RITE PAC directly here.  
 
RITE has a proven track record of developing innovative legal theories that deliver measurable gains in the transparency, security, and integrity of our election processes. As we approach a crucial election year, we hope you will help us stay in the battle.

On behalf of everyone at RITE, we wish you and your loved ones a joyous and restful holiday season.


With much appreciation,

J. Justin Riemer
President
RITE & RITE PAC

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Andrew C. McCarthy

Bestselling author Andrew C. McCarthy is a contributing editor at National Review, a senior fellow at National Review Institute, and a Fox News contributor. He is a former Chief Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York and led the terrorism prosecution against the “Blind Sheikh” (Omar Abdel Rahman) and eleven other jihadists for conducting a war of urban terrorism against the United States that included 

the 1993 World Trade Center  bombing and a plot to  bomb New York City landmarks. After working on other national security cases, including investigations in Africa after the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, he helped supervise the Justice Department’s command center near ground-zero in lower Manhattan following the 9/11 attacks. During his 20-year career as a prosecutor, he received numerous honors, including the Justice Department’s highest awards. He taught trial advocacy at New York Law School, and constitutional issues in criminal law at Fordham Law School. Andy speaks and writes widely on law and national security, radical Islam, politics, and culture. He has testified before Congress as an expert on issues of constitutional law, counterterrorism, and law-enforcement. In addition to his regular columns at National Review, Andy writes frequently for other major national publications. His most recent New York Times bestselling book is Ball of Collusion(Encounter Books, 2019), about the Russiagate controversy (an updated version was published in 2020). His other books include Willful Blindness (2008), The Grand Jihad (2010), Spring Fever: The Illusion of Islamic Democracy (2012), and Faithless Execution (2014). He has also written several pamphlets in the Broadside series published by Encounter Books, most recently Islam and Free Speech (2015).

Andrew C. McCarthy

Bestselling author Andrew C. McCarthy is a contributing editor at National Review, a senior fellow at National Review Institute, and a Fox News contributor. He is a former Chief Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York and led the terrorism prosecution against the “Blind Sheikh” (Omar Abdel Rahman) and eleven other jihadists for conducting a war of urban terrorism against the United States that included 

the 1993 World Trade Center  bombing and a plot to  bomb New York City landmarks. After working on other national security cases, including investigations in Africa after the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, he helped supervise the Justice Department’s command center near ground-zero in lower Manhattan following the 9/11 attacks. During his 20-year career as a prosecutor, he received numerous honors, including the Justice Department’s highest awards. He taught trial advocacy at New York Law School, and constitutional issues in criminal law at Fordham Law School. Andy speaks and writes widely on law and national security, radical Islam, politics, and culture. He has testified before Congress as an expert on issues of constitutional law, counterterrorism, and law-enforcement. In addition to his regular columns at National Review, Andy writes frequently for other major national publications. His most recent New York Times bestselling book is Ball of Collusion(Encounter Books, 2019), about the Russiagate controversy (an updated version was published in 2020). His other books include Willful Blindness (2008), The Grand Jihad (2010), Spring Fever: The Illusion of Islamic Democracy (2012), and Faithless Execution (2014). He has also written several pamphlets in the Broadside series published by Encounter Books, most recently Islam and Free Speech (2015).

Bobby Burchfield

Bobby R. Burchfield is a co-founder, with Karl Rove, of Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections, Inc., and currently serves as RITE’s Chairman. Before retiring from the practice of law in March 2021, after serving as a partner in three international law firms, Bobby was a trial and appellate  lawyer who tried cases before judges and juries and argued appeals throughout the United States. His cases addressed a broad  range of subjects  including antitrust, commercial  disputes, constitutional law,  election law, and class action issues. Bobby argued two important First Amendment cases

in the Supreme Court of the United States (McConnell v. FEC and McCutcheon v. FEC), as well as two dozen appeals in the lower courts. Over a 40-year career, Bobby never lost a jury trial. Among other recognitions, he was listed for many years in Best Lawyers in America, and Chambers Partners rated Bobby highly for Commercial Litigation and for Election Law. Bobby is an Adjunct Professor at George Washington Law School, teaching a seminar entitled “Fundamentals of Free Speech as Applied to Contemporary Issues.” He also serves on the Board of Trustees at Wake Forest University, is Vice President for Finance for the Executive Board of the National Capital Area Council of the Boy Scouts (NCAC), is Chair of two Super PACs, and serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board of the George Washington Law School. A graduate of Wake Forest University (BA 1976 with distinction in Economics and Political Theory) and the George Washington Law School (1979 with high honors), where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review, Bobby clerked for the Hon. Ruggero J. Aldisert of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He served as General Counsel of President George H.W. Bush’s Re-Election Campaign in 1992, by appointment of President George W. Bush on the Antitrust Advisory Commission (2005-07), and at the request of President Donald J. Trump as Ethics Advisor to the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust (2017-2021).

Bobby Burchfield

Bobby R. Burchfield is a co-founder, with Karl Rove, of Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections, Inc., and currently serves as RITE’s Chairman. Before retiring from the practice of law in March 2021, after serving as a partner in three international law firms, Bobby was a trial and appellate  lawyer who tried cases before judges and juries and argued appeals throughout the United States. His cases addressed a broad  range of subjects  including antitrust, commercial  disputes, constitutional law,  election law, and class action issues. Bobby argued two important First Amendment cases

in the Supreme Court of the United States (McConnell v. FEC and McCutcheon v. FEC), as well as two dozen appeals in the lower courts. Over a 40-year career, Bobby never lost a jury trial. Among other recognitions, he was listed for many years in Best Lawyers in America, and Chambers Partners rated Bobby highly for Commercial Litigation and for Election Law. Bobby is an Adjunct Professor at George Washington Law School, teaching a seminar entitled “Fundamentals of Free Speech as Applied to Contemporary Issues.” He also serves on the Board of Trustees at Wake Forest University, is Vice President for Finance for the Executive Board of the National Capital Area Council of the Boy Scouts (NCAC), is Chair of two Super PACs, and serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board of the George Washington Law School. A graduate of Wake Forest University (BA 1976 with distinction in Economics and Political Theory) and the George Washington Law School (1979 with high honors), where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review, Bobby clerked for the Hon. Ruggero J. Aldisert of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He served as General Counsel of President George H.W. Bush’s Re-Election Campaign in 1992, by appointment of President George W. Bush on the Antitrust Advisory Commission (2005-07), and at the request of President Donald J. Trump as Ethics Advisor to the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust (2017-2021).