Protecting Alabamians from Voter Purges (Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice v. Allen)

Washington D.C. — This week, the U.S. House of Representatives held two hearings ahead of the 2024 Presidential Election in the House Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on House Administration designed to create false election panic. There are already strict laws in place to make sure only U.S. citizens vote in federal elections, yet partisan actors continue to push falsehoods that undermine the freedom to vote for U.S. citizens.  

CLC founder and president, Trevor Potter, issued the following statement: 

“There are already strict laws in place that ensure only U.S. citizens vote in our elections and voters in every state are already required to verify their citizenship under penalty of perjury when they register. American elections have proven to be secure, time and time again, because of the policies we already use to verify voters. Our system of checks and balances leaves no room for doubt that the official vote count is accurate.  

“Ultimately, bills like the SAVE Act and the continued spread of falsehoods weaken our democracy. They threaten the freedom to vote for qualified U.S. citizens and undermine the hard work done by election officials across the country to make sure only U.S. citizens can vote. We will remain watchful over partisan lawmakers who are scapegoating naturalized citizens now so they can attempt to overturn the election in the future.” 

Campaign Legal Center is working to advance bills in Congress to make our democracy more fair, free and secure. 

About Campaign Legal Center — The nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center advances democracy through law. We safeguard the freedom to vote and work to ensure public trust in our elected officials. Learn more about CLC.

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Washington, DC — The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) released new guidance in accordance with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) that addresses limits on how and when voters may be removed from the rolls, affirms that the 90-day window applies to mass voter challenges, and clarifies that third-party information is not sufficient for removal. In response, Campaign Legal Center, Advancement Project, All Voting is Local, the Brennan Center for Justice, Dēmos, League of Women Voters of the United States, Legal Defense Fund, and Protect Democracy issued the following statement:

“We applaud the Department of Justice’s actions to ensure election officials across the nation are knowledgeable and armed with accurate information about the limits on how and when voters can be removed from the rolls. For the past several months, we have witnessed an exponential increase in baseless mass voter challenges attacking the eligibility of voters across several states. This guidance will serve as a foundational resource to not only prevent the disenfranchisement of voters but also deter ‘election vigilantes’ from continuing to overwhelm local election offices by challenging the eligibility of voters using faulty database tools. This is a win for voters as we head into the general election in November.”

Background: 

In its press release, the Department underscores what is required under the NVRA when removing voters from the rolls and emphasizes how states must adhere to federal voter protections and antidiscrimination laws while keeping their voter rolls accurate and up-to-date.

Amid a surge of challenges and attacks on voter eligibility, voting rights advocacy groups encouraged the DOJ to issue guidance to remind state and local jurisdictions of federal protections against unlawful voter removals and ensure every eligible voter can exercise their right to vote free of discrimination and intimidation. 

Washington, DC — Yesterday, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filed a lawsuit against the Federal Election Commission (FEC) for dismissing CLC’s February 2024 complaint against the super PAC “Last Best Place PAC” for allegedly violating federal transparency requirements. CLC’s FEC complaint alleged that the super PAC failed to properly disclose its spending in connection with a multimillion-dollar ad campaign the group launched last fall attacking Tim Sheehy, a candidate for U.S. Senate in Montana. After CLC’s initial FEC complaint was filed, Sheehy secured the Republican nomination in this closely watched race. 

“Voters have a right to know where campaign money comes from and how it is spent, and this dismissal is yet another example of the FEC failing to vindicate that right and uphold the core transparency purposes of federal campaign finance law,” said Megan McAllen, director of campaign finance litigation at CLC. “Poor enforcement of the law makes our campaign finance system vulnerable to more secret spending. Despite FEC inaction, we will still be pushing for super PACs like Last Best Place PAC to be fully transparent with voters about their spending aimed at swaying voters in federal elections.” 

As CLC’s complaint explained, Last Best Place PAC began running ads last September that expressly advocated Sheehy’s defeat in Montana’s June 2024 primary election and therefore should have been reported by the group as independent expenditures, both in special pre-election “48-hour” reports and in its regularly scheduled committee filings. But although Last Best Place PAC did not file any 48-hour reports in connection with these ads or report any independent expenditures in its 2023 year-end disclosure report, the FEC nevertheless dismissed CLC’s complaint against the super PAC — which has ties to the dark money groups aligned with the leadership of the national Democratic Party. 

The four FEC commissioners who voted to dismiss the complaint relied on an unsupported and irrational legal rationale that threatens to open an immense loophole in federal transparency requirements for independent expenditures. 

In dismissing CLC’s complaint, the FEC disregarded the recommendations of its own nonpartisan staff lawyers in the agency’s Office of the General Counsel, which agreed with CLC’s concerns. Partisan gridlock has historically been a primary driver of FEC inaction, but now the agency has recently been taking steps to weaken regulation of political spending. 

When super PACs fail to properly disclose details about their spending, voters are deprived of critical information essential to casting an informed vote. In the absence of FEC action, CLC is stepping up to ensure that federal campaign finance law is enforced, and our elections exist within a fair, transparent and accountable political process. 

Salt Lake City, UT — On Saturday, the League of Women Voters of Utah (LWV Utah), Mormon Women for Ethical Government (MWEG) and a bipartisan group of Utah voters filed a second challenge to the legality of Constitutional Amendment D. 

The Utah Constitution requires that the full text of a proposed constitutional amendment be published in at least one newspaper in every county of the state for the two months prior to the election. The legislature failed to meet that deadline.

This challenge is the second that Utahns filed to protect the rights clearly established by the Utah Constitution. Another filed late last week challenged Amendment D’s deceptive ballot language, which was written by the very same people who are pushing the amendment forward. 

That problem has been compounded by the Legislature’s failure to comply with its constitutional obligation to provide voters the proposed amendment’s text in a timely manner to allow voters to determine for themselves how to vote. The Legislature plans to present a false description on the ballot while simultaneously withholding the text of the amendment from voters.   

“The League of Women Voters takes seriously our mission to empower voters and therefore provide them with timely and accurate information. That has proven impossible after the legislature failed to release the text of Amendment D as required, and put out ballot language which is both biased and incorrect. It is unfair to their constituents who need time to examine their ballots and make informed decisions. We believe that the Utah Constitution recognizes that voters are integral to our democracy and that neither they nor the Constitution should be taken lightly or ignored. Voters deserve better from their representatives,” said Katharine Biele, president of League of Women Voters of Utah.

“The Utah Constitution includes an amendment notification provision for a reason – so that the people have the opportunity to read and consider what will be voted on. While the misleading ballot language has been shared far and wide by legislative leadership, the actual text of the amendment has been obscured, in clear violation of the Utah constitution. This is the latest move in a series of rushed political maneuvers that undermine Utahns’ constitutional rights,” said Emma Petty Addams, co-executive director, Mormon Women for Ethical Government.

Background:

In 2018, Utahns exercised their right to reform their government by passing a bipartisan initiative, Prop 4, also known as “Better Boundaries.” This effort created the Utah Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) and banned partisan gerrymandering.  

In response, in 2020 the Utah Legislature repealed Prop 4 and replaced it with SB 200, which gutted the key redistricting reforms in Prop 4, and enacted a congressional map that is an extreme partisan gerrymander, in direct contradiction to the will of the voters. Additionally, in 2023, Utah politicians attempted to raise the threshold for the passage of ballot initiatives from a simple majority to 60%.

After the Utah Supreme Court reaffirmed the rights of the people to alter or reform their government, and rejected the Legislature’s disregard of the voters’ wishes, the legislature rushed into emergency session seeking to advance a constitutional amendment to invalidate the voters’ constitutional rights. As part of the rushed process, the legislative leadership then rushed misleading and inaccurate ballot language forward, while ignoring their constitutional duties to publish the full and accurate text in advance of the election. 

CLC is representing the League of Women Voters of Utah (LWV Utah), Mormon Women for Ethical Government (MWEG), and a bipartisan group of individual voters in the ongoing lawsuit.