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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Pkeets (talk | contribs) at 03:05, 20 September 2020 (→‎Controversy). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit American legal group established in 2012 and based in Indianapolis, Indiana,[1] which describes itself as dedicated to election integrity. The Foundation purports to assist states in ensuring election accuracy and the fight against fraud in US elections. It seeks to protect citizens' right to vote and to preserve the Constitutional framework of American elections.[2]

Activities

PILF primarily litigates federal claims concerning the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) (52 U.S.C. §§ 20501–20511) and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 52 U.S.C. § 10101.[3] The group promotes active or former involvement in cases in Texas, North Carolina, Florida, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Nevada, Virginia, Kansas, D.C., and Mississippi. The organization has filed documents in favor of a Florida law barring ex-convicts who owe fines from voting.[4] PILF has also participated as a primary party or intervenor in the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The organization also submits amicus curiae briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court on election-related issues.

In 2017, Foundation President J. Christian Adams was chosen by President Donald Trump to be a member of his election integrity commission.[5] In August 2020, Trump appointed Adams to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.[6] Adams opposes automatic voter registration, saying that voter registration should require "forethought and initiative, something lacking in large segments of the Democrat base."[7]

In 2020, the organization announced the launch of the Safeguarding America's Votes and Elections (SAVE) Database as a tool to more accurately analyze and track voter roll deficiencies and potential problem areas.[8] The organization plans to use the database to produce reports available to the public that can be used to improve the election process.

Controversy

The Public Interest Legal Foundation is known for suing states and local governments to purge ineligible voters from election rolls.[9] They assert that "large numbers of ineligible aliens are registering to vote and casting ballots", but the accuracy of their previous research has been disputed, and lists that they have displayed of such supposed voters have sometimes proved to actually include US natives who are eligible voters.[10] For example, one such voter was a US missionary in Guatemala who was inaccurately highlighted as a fraudulent voter in a Washington Times article.[11] PILF said their lists had been based on state government lists of declared “non-citizens” removed from local voter rolls, but some US citizens were wrongfully purged in the process.[12]

PILF has identified irregularities in the rolls such as registered voters claiming NPR Headquarters in Culver City as their residence so they could use absentee voting in the state of California.[13] In a 2020 report, the organization found nearly 350,000 dead registrants on voter rolls across 41 states, an improvement over a 2012 Pew Research Center report revealing over 2 million dead registrants. The same PILF report found that during the 2018 General Election, there were about 38,000 likely duplicate registrants who cast two votes from the same address, and nearly 8000 registrants who apparently voted after death.[14]

The organization has published the information of eligible voters online, including Social Security numbers, falsely accusing them of being fraudulent voters.[11] PILF has sent mailings to hundreds of counties claiming that their voting rolls are provably corrupt; Politifact has judged these claims to be "false," stating that "inactive" registrants should not be counted with "active" ones when calculating total rates of voter registration. The foundation originally flagged jurisdictions with more registered voters than resident adults, according to annual U.S. Census population estimates at the time.[15] ProPublica found major counting errors in PlLF's use of government data; PlLF subsequently corrected its analysis.[9]

Board of directors

References

  1. ^ "Contact Information page". PILF.
  2. ^ "About Us". PILF. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
  3. ^ "Cases". Public Interest Legal Foundation. Retrieved 2019-04-10.
  4. ^ Rivero, Daniel. "Major Florida Voting Rights Case Going To Trial During Pandemic". wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu. Retrieved 2020-05-18.
  5. ^ Trimm, Jane C. (27 August 2017). "Vote Fraud Crusader J. Christian Adams Sparks Outrage". NBC News. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  6. ^ Beer, Tommy (17 September 2020). "Trump Appointees Shelve Civil Rights Commission Findings On Barriers To Minority Voting Rights". Forbes. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  7. ^ Jacobs, Ben (2017-07-11). "Controversial rightwing activist to join Trump's election integrity commission". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
  8. ^ "Groundbreaking National Voter Roll Study Reveals Alarming Trends as States Prepare to Vote by Mail". PR Newswire. 17 September 2020. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  9. ^ a b Willis, Derek. "A Conservative Legal Group Significantly Miscalculated Data in a…". ProPublica. Retrieved 2020-05-03.
  10. ^ Pilkington, Ed (23 September 2018). "Thousands at risk from rightwing push to purge eligible voters from US rolls". the Guardian.
  11. ^ a b "Vote fraud crusader J. Christian Adams sparks outrage". NBC News. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
  12. ^ http://www.washingtontimes.com, The Washington Times. "Maureen Erickson kicked off Virginia voting rolls as 'declared noncitizen'". The Washington Times. Retrieved 2019-04-17. {{cite web}}: External link in |last= (help)
  13. ^ "4 Voters Claiming NPR as Residence Turn Up in Search of California Voting Records". USSA News. 17 September 2020. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  14. ^ Dinan, Stephen (16 September 2020). "Watchdog identifies 50,000 double-voters, 350,000 dead persons still on rolls". Washington Times. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  15. ^ "Anti-vote fraud group levels false charge of corrupted rolls". Politifact.
  16. ^ "Board of Directors - Public Interest Legal Foundation".


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