Washington, DC — Today, Members of Congress in both chambers reintroduced the Freedom to Vote Act, a comprehensive proposal that would increase Americans’ access to the ballot box, neutralize partisan and racial gerrymandering and increase transparency in our campaign finance system to counteract the impact of dark money secret spending. 

Originally introduced in 2021, the Freedom to Vote Act would address many of the most pressing challenges to our electoral process, allowing democracy to work for all Americans and ensuring that all voices are heard. 

“The aims of the Freedom to Vote Act – prohibiting partisan gerrymandering, protecting the freedom to vote and increasing the transparency of money spent in federal elections – are supported by a significant majority of Americans, regardless of party,” said Trevor Potter, president of Campaign Legal Center and a Republican former chairman of the Federal Election Commission. “We encourage legislators to put partisanship aside and come together to ensure that every American voter has an equal voice in our political system, in order to ensure that democracy works for all Americans.” 

An opposing bill, the American Confidence in Elections Act (ACE Act), was recently introduced in the House of Representatives. Despite the misleading name, the ACE Act does not make our elections more secure, transparent and accessible. Rather, the ACE Act erodes access to the ballot box, opens the door for wealthy donors to influence elections, imposes new burdens on nonpartisan election workers, restricts the franchise for voters in Washington, DC and much more.  

The Freedom to Vote Act, in deep contrast, is legislation that comprehensively strengthens our democracy and addresses the most pressing challenges to our electoral process – the true recipe for voter confidence and trust. 

More information on the Freedom to Vote Act is available here. 

Tallahassee, FL — A federal judge has declined to block enforcement of two provisions of a Florida anti-voter law, Senate Bill 7050, challenged by the League of Women Voters of Florida (LWVFL). Campaign Legal Center (CLC) is representing LWVFL in the lawsuit. 

One of the provisions allowed to remain in effect fines nonpartisan civic engagement groups $50,000 every time a volunteer with certain felony convictions helps register a voter. The other requires volunteers to provide a detailed receipt to those who fill out voter registration forms, and each receipt must contain the volunteer’s full name. Both provisions have the potential to severely impact the availability of individuals who register voters in often-overlooked communities. 

In response to the order, CLC and LWVFL issued the following statement:  

“We are disappointed by today’s decision, which will severely curtail the ability of nonpartisan civic engagement groups like LWVFL to engage with and educate voters. In the past, the League has relied on volunteers with felony convictions to assist in engaging other persons with felony convictions to learn about their eligibility to register to vote. This ruling leaves in place the barriers that prevent persons with felony convictions from assisting with voter registration. 

At the end of the day, Florida should celebrate — not punish — the civic-minded people who help voters make their voices heard. Campaign Legal Center and the League of Women Voters of Florida look forward to continuing to fight in court against this disturbing attack on voters.” 

On July 3, the same judge temporarily blocked two different provisions of Senate Bill 7050 challenged by LWVFL, as well as two other sets of plaintiffs, that restrict and penalize the work of nonpartisan civic engagement groups. 

 More information about the lawsuit can be found here.

This morning, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) argued before the Utah Supreme Court in a lawsuit challenging Utah’s gerrymandered congressional voting map and asking the court to reinstate Prop 4, a citizen-led initiative that prohibited partisan gerrymandering.  

CLC represents the League of Women Voters of Utah (LWV Utah), Mormon Women for Ethical Government (MWEG) and a bipartisan group of individual voters in the lawsuit. Mark Gaber, senior director of redistricting at CLC, presented oral arguments on behalf of the plaintiffs.  

CLC, LWV Utah and MWEG issued the following joint statement after oral arguments concluded: 

“Voters should be the ones to choose their politicians, not the other way around. Instead of following this basic democratic principle, the Utah legislature gerrymandered their congressional voting map to lock in power and blatantly ignored the will of Utah’s voters in the process.  

The Utah constitution makes it very clear that voters have a right to reform their government. We urge the Utah Supreme Court to affirm Utahns' constitutional rights so every vote counts equally and every voice is heard."  

More information about the lawsuit can be found here. 

###

Tallahassee, FL — On Monday, a federal judge temporarily blocked enforcement of portions of Florida’s anti-voter law, SB 7050. The order comes after three sets of plaintiffs, including individual Florida residents, the Florida State Conference of the NAACP, Hispanic Federation, Poder Latinx and the League of Women Voters of Florida (LWVFL), challenged the law in court and sought emergency relief. Campaign Legal Center represents LWVFL in its challenge to the law, which restricts and penalizes basic nonpartisan civic engagement efforts. 

Specifically, the preliminary injunction prevents Florida from penalizing nonpartisan civic organizations like LWVFL if any of their volunteers who help register voters are not U.S. citizens. The ruling also blocks a provision that prohibits those organizations from retaining a voter’s personal information, such as their name and phone number, with the voter’s consent. 

Chief Judge Mark Walker agreed the provisions were likely unconstitutional and severely curtailed civic groups' ability to engage with voters. “The Free State of Florida is simply not free to exceed the boundaries of the U.S. Constitution,” Walker wrote in his ruling.   

“We applaud the Court’s ruling, which blocks SB 7050’s restrictions on what civic engagement organizations like the League of Women Voters of Florida can do to engage with and educate voters,” said Danielle Lang, senior director of voting rights at Campaign Legal Center. “Voter engagement is political speech. When states limit the efforts of groups like the League of Women Voters of Florida, they also attack their First Amendment rights to participate in the political process.”   

“The League of Women Voters of Florida is thrilled with the Court’s ruling which releases all third-party voter registration organizations from some of the harsh limitations on registering voters,” said Cecile Scoon, co-president of the League of Women Voters of Florida. “We await the court’s ruling on the remaining claims in our case which address similar issues pertaining to limits on who can assist us with voter registration.”  

"We are encouraged by this ruling and hope it bodes well for our request that other challenged aspects of SB 7050, particularly the prohibition against certain individuals with past felony convictions assisting in voter registration, be enjoined as well," said Debra Chandler, co-president of the League of Women Voters of Florida.

“The Court’s order sends a powerful message to legislatures that intend to stop the work of organizations like the League to advocate for voters,” said Caren Short, director of legal and research for the League of Women Voters of the United States. “The League’s work is foundational to a functioning democracy and we’ll continue to fight for our right to register and educate voters.” 

The preliminary injunction was granted just five days after the initial hearing, reflecting the strength of the arguments against the law. CLC and LWVFL remain hopeful that the Court will also block enforcement of the remaining provisions challenged in their suit.  
 

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis failed to disclose multiple trips on private jets paid for and arranged in February 2023 by And To The Republic, a nonprofit organization, as required by state law.  

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filed a complaint with the Florida Commission on Ethics against Governor Ron DeSantis for failing to report possible travel gifts he received from And To The Republic (ATTR), a nonprofit organization, in his financial disclosure form.  

Back in February, ATTR organized and arranged transportation via private jet on behalf of Governor DeSantis to almost a dozen speaking engagements in at least eight states. The exact cost for these flights is currently unknown.  

The Florida Commission on Ethics requires state government officials to report any travel gifts over $100 – a threshold that private jet travel easily meets - within the last day of each calendar quarter. Governor DeSantis had up until Friday, June 30 to disclose ATTR’s travel gifts. No gift disclosure statement from the governor is on the Commission’s website as of July 5th of this year.  

“This lack of disclosure from Governor DeSantis appears to be a clear violation of state laws that are necessary to maintaining public trust,” said Kedric Payne, CLC Vice President, General Counsel, and Senior Director of Ethics. “Floridians have a right to know that government officials representing them are acting in the public’s interests – not their own personal interest, or the interests of the wealthy special interests who give them gifts. The Florida Commission on Ethics must investigate whether Governor DeSantis did, in fact, omit travel gifts from ATTR from his financial disclosure form and take appropriate action.”  

ATTR has acknowledged that travel arrangements made by the nonprofit on behalf of Governor DeSantis were not a political contribution. No publicly available evidence indicates that these trips were related to his official role as Florida’s governor but one trip was on a jet owned by Jeffrey Soffer – a Miami hotelier hoping to get Florida’s gambling laws changed – for a speaking event in New York City.  

Even as a presidential candidate, Governor DeSantis is bound by Florida law. The Florida Commission on Ethics must enforce state law and investigate whether Governor DeSantis failed to publicly disclose his acceptance of travel gifts from a nonprofit organization.