A federal judge has ruled Missouri has done enough to remove inactive names from the state’s voter rolls and it should not be held responsible for removing thousands of those names still on the rolls.
U.S. District Judge Nanette Laughery’s ruling responds to a Justice Department civil complaint filed in November of 2005. That complaint alleged some counties, mostly in rural areas, had not removed outdated names from their voting lists – something that is required under the National Voter Registration Act.
The Judge rules Secretary of State Robin Carnahan has made a "reasonable" effort to remove the names by training local election authorities and by giving local law enforcement the tools to prosecute cases of voter fraud and to ensure no one is prevented from voting as a result of NRVA violations. In her ruling, Judge Laughery added that inaccurate voter lists do not appear to be a big problem in the state. Furthermore, she writes there is no evidence of voter fraud, nor is there any evidence that anyone has prevented from voting because of NRVA violations.
A statement from the Secretary of State’s office calls this ruling "the culmination of 18 months of an unnecessary, unwise and costly lawsuit by the Department of Justice."
