The Maine Federal Court of Appeals ruled Monday that Maine must release voter registration information to a conservative public interest law firm, the Associated Press reported.

While the law firm celebrated the ruling, Democratic Maine Secretary of State Shena Bellows said she was “deeply concerned” that such distribution could lead to voter harassment. report. (Related: Maine Supreme Court refuses to intervene on President Trump's voting rights, punts SCOTUS)

The Public Interest Law Foundation (PILF) requested a copy of Maine's voter file and history in 2019, but Bellows refused. According to some information, PILF filed a lawsuit against this in 2020. press release From Pilf.

“this is [a] This is a monumental victory for electoral transparency,” PILF President J. Christian Adams said in a press release. “Use restrictions would have prohibited basic voter roll research and limited PILF's ability to share its findings with the public. Under the law, PILF They were prohibited from comparing rolls to find duplicate registrations.Other states should think twice before passing laws restricting citizens' ability to access voter files or comment on errors.'' he added.

🚨🚨🚨Breaking news🚨🚨🚨

First Circuit Court of Appeals: Voter rolls are public records, Maine cannot punish voter roll researchershttps://t.co/KyIFbK1S8S

— PublicInterestLegal (@PIILFoundation) February 5, 2024

The organization used similar disclosure laws to gain access to voter files in Illinois and Maryland, according to a press release. PILF also sued the state of Hawaii. September Release of voter records is still pending.

mature woman I will explain It is an organization dedicated to “preserving the right to vote and the constitutional framework of U.S. elections through litigation, investigations, research, and education,” and has been active in election litigation since before the contentious 2020 presidential election. We have been working on this.