Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen's lawsuit over voter information checks drew controversy this fall, but the Government Accountability Board may decide Tuesday to perform the disputed checks anyway.
Prior to the election, the Board chose not to crosscheck the information of voters registered before Aug. 6, 2008.
Van Hollen claimed this decision was a violation of the Help America Vote Act, a law requiring registrations filed after Jan. 1, 2006, to go through the checking process. A Dane County Circuit Court Judge dismissed Van Hollen's case last month, but he filed to appeal the case Friday.
According to GAB Elections Divisions Administrator Nat Robinson, the board intended to check voter registration databases all along. Robinson declined to comment how performing these checks may affect the lawsuit.
If you look back at the [GAB] minutes '¦ you will see where they said that once the general election is over and the database has been corrected and brought up to date, they will determine what procedures for consistency they will implement to do back checks,"" Robinson said.
Robinson said the GAB is asking staff members to develop a method to help local clerks make the checkup process uniform and consistent across the state. He said he did not know how long the HAVA checks would take.
Van Hollen's office declined to comment until the GAB determines its plan of action.
After Tuesday's meeting, the Board will consider the staff recommendations at their January 2009 meeting and advised clerks not to perform the checks prior to that date, according to a GAB memo.
