The American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia filed requests this week with the clerks of Cabell and Kanawha counties for information about their handling of the online voter registration system.
On May 3, the same day it was filed, the state Supreme Court rejected an emergency petition from the ACLU, which was filed over the refusal by Kanawha Clerk Vera McCormick and Cabell Clerk Karen Cole to accept online voter registration in advance of the May 10 primary election.
Attorneys with the ACLU argue that the clerks can't reject the online voter registrations without violating the equal protection clause in the state and U.S. constitutions, and that denying online registration threatens the integrity of a statewide election.
"Right now, we're evaluating our options and deciding how best to go forward," said Jamie Lynn Crofts, lead attorney for the ACLU. "We don't currently have any lawsuit pending but we want to keep track of what's going on and perhaps file another lawsuit in the future."
The request filed by the ACLU, under the Freedom of Information Act, asks that the clerks provide, among other things, all policies and procedures or internal communications regarding the number of voters who tried to vote but were unable to cast a ballot on May 10 or during early voting; information regarding the number of voters who tried to register or update their registration using the online system, and information regarding how many provisional ballots were cast during the primary election and during early voting.
According to the request, the ACLU asks for information about "of the provisional ballots that were not counted for the May 10, 2016 election and during the early voting period ... how many of them were by voters who tried to register or update their registration using the online system."
The ACLU also asks for any communications between the clerks offices and the secretary of state, other county clerks, county officials or staff about the online registration system and the petition filed with the Supreme Court over the online registration system, among other information.
In April, Cole and McCormick said they were uncomfortable with the security provisions in the state's voter registration website, which went online in October. Both clerks, once they received notification of an online voter registration, had been mailing papers out to the voter to complete before they would accept the registration.
Secretary of State Natalie Tennant sent a letter, later in April, to the Kanawha County Commission requesting that the county accept online voter registration. McCormick said she then started accepting the online registrations. Cole could not be reached for comment.
McCormick said Tuesday afternoon that her office was working to respond to the ACLU's request for information.
"We just got it and we are working on it and I know our county attorney sent them an email seeing if they wanted to come to the canvas today," McCormick said.
Attorneys with the ACLU didn't attend the county's canvas of the election, she said.
McCormick said there wasn't anyone who tried to register or change something online that didn't get to vote.
"They double checked those today," she said.
Reach Kate White at
kate.white@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1723 or follow @KateLWhite on Twitter.