The Republican National Committee sued the state of Hawaiʻi and its chief election officer Tuesday, claiming Hawaiʻi was violating laws by failing to provide information about how it maintains voter registration records.

Chief Election Officer Scott Nago failed to address the RNC’s questions about what records the state maintains regarding voter rolls, the suit says, adding that this violates Hawai‘i’s open records law and federal disclosure requirements.

The suit was filed in Honolulu’s First Circuit Court.

Hawaiʻi law states that the counties, not the state, are responsible for maintaining and updating voter rolls, and the suit acknowledged that Nago had advised the RNC to contact the counties directly.

But the suit argues that under the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 all states are required to “conduct a general program that makes a reasonable effort to remove the names of ineligible voters from the official lists of eligible voters.”

“It would be highly unlikely for the Office not to have any of the types of records requested, such as memos, manuals, policies, emails, or voter registration data,” the suit states.

It added that the RNC reached out to elections officials on Kauaʻi and Hawaiʻi island for information about voters and was told to contact the state.

Nago said Tuesday that his office hasn’t been served yet, and he doesn’t comment on pending litigation.

The RNC made similar public records requests to almost every state in March as part of the Republican Party’s ongoing campaign to determine if ineligible voters are casting ballots.

“Voters have a right to know that their states are properly maintaining voter rolls and quickly acting to clean voter registration lists by removing ineligible voters,” then-RNC Chairman Michael Whatley said at the time. “If states unlawfully block our requests, or if we discover that states have failed to accurately maintain their voter rolls, the RNC stands ready to act.”

The RNC filed a similar suit in July against the state of New Jersey. The RNC did not respond to a Civil Beat inquiry Tuesday about whether it has sued any other states as a result of its March requests for records.

The lawsuit has no connection to an ongoing controversy involving the Hawaiʻi Elections Commission and claims of discrepancies in county and state counts of ballots cast during the 2024 election.

The commission has called for a statewide audit of ballot counts from the last election.

Read the lawsuit below: