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Voting Rights
Democracy works best when all citizens can vote without barriers.
Voting Rights
Democracy works best when all citizens can vote without barriers.
Voting should be accessible for all citizens, no matter where they live, the color of their skin or how much money they make.
To make every vote count, we need a system that is free and fair to ensure that everyone’s voice is heard, including those who have served their time and paid their debt to society.
CLC believes that state and federal policies should uniformly protect the right to vote and promote voter participation across the United States. Through litigation, policy analysis, state-based advocacy and public education, CLC seeks to protect the right to vote and expand access to the ballot.
I did my time but I’m not allowed a voice in the community that I am expected to reintegrate in. Where is the encouragement and door to establish roots and become a law-abiding citizen? I have walked out of one cell and into another. I still feel shackled and locked down.
Timothy Lanier, Plaintiff in Thompson v. Merrill, CLC’s challenge to Alabama’s felony disenfranchisement law
The Latest on Voting Rights
Voting Rights Cases and Actions
Four Americans and the League of United Latin American Citizens of Richmond are suing the Public Interest Legal Foundation and its president, J. Christian Adams, for engaging in a multiyear campaign of voter intimidation in the state of Virginia.
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CLC sent letters to six states informing them that their voter registration forms were not up-to-date and did not accurately explain voter eligibility.
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Texas engaged in unlawful redistricting, so the state should be liable when it reaffirms that unlawful decision by reenacting the same unlawful districts without change.
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Every Eligible Voter Should Have Access to the Ballot
CLC Restores Voting Rights in Alabama
In 2017, the Alabama Legislature passed a new law clarifying its felony disenfranchisement law, which likely enfranchises tens of thousands or more Alabamians. But these laws will only empower voters if they know about their eligibility to vote. CLC joined with the Southern Poverty Law Center to launch the Alabama Voting Rights Project, a grassroots campaign and online tool to educate voters in Alabama about their right to vote.
CLC Protects Texas Voters
CLC has been fighting against Texas’s discriminatory photo voter ID law since 2011. CLC represents Texas Congressman Marc Veasey and a group for Texas voters who challenged the law as unconstitutional and discriminatory. Years of litigation have ensured that voters in Texas can never be turned away from the polls simply for lacking a certain type of photo ID.
CLC Launches the Voting Rights Institute
CLC joined with American Constitution Society and Georgetown University Law Center to create the Voting Rights Institute in 2014. The VRI works to prepare the next generation of attorneys, experts and activists to preserve our democracy and protect the ability of all Americans to vote
CLC Wins a Victory for Voters in Arizona
CLC challenged the state's extremely complicated registration process in federal court and reached a settlement agreement that eases Arizona's registration process, so that tens of thousands of voter registrations in Arizona would not be rejected because of unnecessary bureaucracy.
For lawmakers to hear the student voice, students must have easy access to voting. We are thrilled that students will no longer be required to fill out duplicate forms or dig up their original birth certificates and passports, which made access to the ballot difficult for no reason.
Shayna Stevens, outgoing executive director of the Arizona Students’ Association, plaintiff in Lulac v. Reagan
Felony disenfranchisement laws silence the voices of more than 5 million citizens who are banned from the polls today.
See How CLC is Helping Restore Voting Rights in Alabama
Help CLC Protect Voting Rights Nationwide