The Republican National Committee has filed a lawsuit against Hawaii's chief election officer over voter roll transparency.
The RNC is ratcheting up its national campaign to enforce transparency and bolster election integrity under President Donald Trump's directives, The Daily Signal reported.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, accused the Hawaii Office of Elections of violating federal and state law by refusing to release records on how it maintains its voter rolls.
"Hawaii citizens deserve to have confidence that their state is properly maintaining voter rolls," RNC Chair Joe Gruters told The Daily Signal.
"Hawaii has a legal obligation to provide this information and is blatantly breaking [its] own law," he said.
The dispute stems from a public records request the RNC submitted in March.
The RNC was seeking documents on Hawaii's voter roll maintenance procedures.
The request was part of a broader effort by the committee to review election integrity practices across 48 states and Washington, D.C.
At the heart of the case is Section 8 of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which requires states to keep voter rolls accurate by removing ineligible voters, including those who have died or relocated.
The law also mandates public access to records showing how states perform that maintenance.
The RNC said Hawaii failed to confirm if such records even exist.
"Hawaii citizens deserve to know if their election officials are cleaning their voter rolls as required by law, which is why the RNC is suing," Gruters said.
According to the committee, the state's refusal also violates Hawaii's own public records statute, which requires disclosure of information that federal law makes publicly available.
The lawsuit seeks a court order compelling the Office of Elections to produce the requested documents.
An RNC official told The Daily Signal last month that the committee's litigation strategy is closely aligned with Trump's push to tighten election laws.
Trump signed an executive order in March requiring proof of U.S. citizenship for federal voter registration and establishing Election Day as the uniform ballot receipt deadline.
The order also ties federal election funding to compliance with these and related measures.
The RNC is defending Trump's directive in states that continue practices prohibited under the order.
"We are challenging these things on a state-by-state basis to make sure that they are compliant with the statutory schemes as constructed now and that they provide the most balanced security as we can have in those states," the RNC official said.
The Hawaii lawsuit marks the latest phase in the committee's expanding legal effort to synchronize state election procedures with federal integrity standards — a campaign likely to intensify as the 2026 midterm elections approach.
Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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