The city of Philadelphia is not removing incarcerated felons from its voter rolls despite being hit with a lawsuit, according to a watchdog group.
The Public Interest Legal Foundation, an Indiana-based election integrity group, sued the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in April over its questionable voter rolls. After meeting with city officials, the watchdog group announced that the city had not removed felons from those who are eligible to vote.
"After meeting with City officials, it has come to light that the City doesn’t remove or even flag incarcerated felons who are ineligible to vote in Pennsylvania," the group said. "The number of incarcerated felons on the rolls and ineligible to vote likely numbers in the thousands. The Foundation is requesting urgent action from the Court to rectify the situation."
The legal watchdog group filed a lawsuit against Philadelphia earlier this year for concealing election records. The city refused to provide information on possible non-citizen voters who were discovered by the group, prompting the legal challenge.
J. Christian Adams, the president of the Public Interest Legal Foundation, said the city is not ensuring election integrity.
"Incarcerated felons shouldn’t be on the voter rolls. Election officials should be doing something more than nothing to ensure felons don’t cast a ballot in November," Adams said. "The integrity of the outcome of the election in Pennsylvania is called into question when voter rolls are not properly maintained."