At the beginning of 2017, the cost of buying the list of registered voters in Arizona was far higher than the costs in any other state. The state charged 5 cents for paper records per name, and one cent per name for electronic records. This amounted to over $150,000 for a paper record, and over $30,000 for an electronic record, for the entire statewide list. The state gave the list free to qualified parties.
Project Vote had been trying to reduce these costs since 2012. In 2016 it filed a federal lawsuit, arguing that Arizona was breaking the federal NVRA, which says states must furnish the list “at a reasonable cost”. The lawsuit was Project Vote v Reagan, 2:16cv-1253.
Earlier this year, the legislature passed HB 2412, which was signed March 31, 2017. It lowers the cost for the entire list to $328 plus $0.0000625 per name. That currently works out to approximately $500. The cost per name is slightly higher for partial lists.
The state settled the lawsuit at the end of June. Each side will pay its own attorneys’ fees. Ironically, Project Vote this year has ceased to exist as an active organization, due to the difficulty of raising funds for its activities. Thanks to Electionline for this news.
Will Trump’s “distinguished” commission have to pay?
Would this be good precedent for Alabama? They charge 1 cent per name which also works out to about 30k statewide. I don’t know whether they charge the qualified parties or not, but they did not waive their fee the one time in my memory that the LP was qualified… but maybe some animals are more “qualified” than others. Back when Steve Gordon was LPAL chair he said he would have “no problem” getting a free statewide list from his Republican connections, but he never actually came through with it and I don’t know whether they would have had it because ALGOP pays the 30k (which would not be a lot of money to them) and then gives it to various party officials and candidates or because ALGOP in fact gets it for free.
Yes, I think if anyone wanted to sue Alabama, the case would have a good chance of succeeding. And Project Vote already did the basic legal research. Any attorney with access to Pacer could read their complaint and brief.