A federal district judge in Missouri ruled yesterday that the Secretary of State can’t be held responsible for local election officials’ failure to comply with requirements of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). The AP has this report, and Judge Nanette Laughery’s opinion granting partial summary judgment to the Secretary of State may be found here. The Justice Department brought suit against Secretary of State Robin Carnahan in November, seeking to hold her office responsible for counties’ failure to remove ineligible voters as required by the NVRA, among other things. The ruling would appear to mean that Justice will have to go after counties individually, to the extent that they’re violating the NVRA.