Philadelphia Inquirer: Civil rights groups seek to block Judicial Watch lawsuit and avoid a purge of Pennsylvania voter rolls

Philadelphia Inquirer: Civil rights groups seek to block Judicial Watch lawsuit and avoid a purge of Pennsylvania voter rolls

“Lawsuits like these are designed to force counties to pull eligible voters off the rolls, and that’s just not the way democracy is supposed to work,” said Suzanne Almeida, interim executive director for Common Cause Pennsylvania.

Civil rights groups asked a federal court Monday to let them defend against a lawsuit over voter rolls in the Philadelphia suburbs.

The lawsuit was brought two weeks ago by Judicial Watch, a conservative activist group known for its public-records requests and litigation. The group claims Bucks, Chester, and Delaware Counties have failed to properly remove voters who have become ineligible. It seeks the removal of an unspecified number of voters according to unspecified criteria.

“Lawsuits like these are designed to force counties to pull eligible voters off the rolls, and that’s just not the way democracy is supposed to work,” said Suzanne Almeida, interim executive director for Common Cause Pennsylvania.

The group, along with the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, filed a motion Monday to intervene in Judicial Watch v. Pennsylvania. They are represented by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the state and national ACLUs, and New York-based Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP.