Law & Principles

Voter-integrity group challenges Oklahoma law

June 16, 2026

Ray Carter

The Virginia-based Public Interest Legal Foundation, which focuses on election integrity, has sued the Secretary of the State Election Board, arguing that Oklahoma’s legal restrictions on the release of voter data violate federal law and the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

“It doesn’t matter if you are from Tulsa or Tacoma, Oklahoma City or New York City, these government records are available to the public under federal law,” said Public Interest Legal Foundation President J. Christian Adams. “Voter rolls are an important list-maintenance document the public has a right to inspect. PILF has fought this fight and won in court in three other states. We are confident that this lawsuit will bring transparency to Oklahoma’s elections.”

The Public Interest Legal Foundation focuses on issues of election integrity. It routinely relies on the public-disclosure provision of the federal National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) of 1993, as well as state and federal open-records laws, to obtain voter information and examine if voter rolls are current and accurate, and to determine whether eligible registrants have been improperly removed from voter rolls.

Oklahoma law restricts access to the “current list of all registered voters in each precinct” to Oklahoma residents who are U.S. citizens, official representatives of political parties recognized by the state of Oklahoma, candidates for Oklahoma office, and “other persons authorized by state law.”

Because the Public Interest Legal Foundation is not based in Oklahoma, it does not fall into any of those categories and was therefore denied access to the statewide voter registration list.

In the group’s complaint, the Public Interest Legal Foundation argues that Oklahoma law violates the federal National Voter Registration Act, which states, “Each State shall maintain for at least 2 years and shall make available for public inspection and, where available, photocopying at a reasonable cost, all records concerning the implementation of programs and activities conducted for the purpose of ensuring the accuracy and currency of official lists of eligible voters …”

In a 2025 ruling, the Tenth Circuit found that “making voter data unavailable for close public scrutiny disrupts the purpose and intended effects of the NVRA,” while in 2018, a U.S. District Court held that the public-disclosure provision of the NVRA is designed to make information “available to any member of the public.”

In a letter to the Public Interest Legal Foundation, the Oklahoma Election Board stated that Oklahoma’s electronic voter list does not fall under “records concerning the implementation of programs and activities conducted for the purpose of ensuring the accuracy and currency of official lists of eligible voters” as defined by the NVRA.

In the group's complaint, the Public Interest Legal Foundation argues, “By denying the Foundation the ability to obtain records it otherwise could obtain under the Public Disclosure Provision of the NVRA,” Oklahoma law “conflicts with federal law.”

The Public Interest Legal Foundation notes that it received the State Voter Registration List from Oklahoma in the past, before the enactment of the current law that limits access mostly to Oklahoma residents, political parties, and candidates.

Under Oklahoma’s current restrictions, the foundation argues that it “is unable to study and analyze Oklahoma’s voter list maintenance activities and Oklahoma’s compliance with state and federal laws, and other best practices, and to write and publish reports based on the analyses.”

In its complaint, the foundation argues that Oklahoma law violates the group’s right to equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

“The Foundation and those who may receive full access under Oklahoma law are similarly situated because they are both members of the ‘public,’” the Public Interest Legal Foundation states. “Yet Defendant is enforcing the NVRA in a discriminatory manner, granting full access to preferred entities and individuals while denying full access to the Foundation.”

Ryan Haynie, director of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs’ Center for Law and Liberty, filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma as the in-state attorney for the Public Interest Legal Foundation.