Today, the entire U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit heard oral argument in Petteway v. Galveston County, TX — a case challenging discriminatory, “mean-spirited” and “egregious” voting districts passed in Galveston that silence Black and Latino voters and threaten to undermine a component of the federal Voting Rights Act (VRA).

In 2021, Campaign Legal Center (CLC), the UCLA Voting Rights Project and Neil Baron joined the ongoing redistricting fight, which began in 2013, to represent Galveston County voters against racial discrimination by Galveston County in its voting maps.

Following today’s hearing, Valencia Richardson, legal counsel for voting rights at Campaign Legal Center, issued the following statement: 

“Today’s hearing illustrated a fundamental fact: Galveston County’s Black and Latino voters deserve an opportunity to make their voices heard in county government. For too long, Galveston County’s Black and Latino voters have faced discrimination in voting — a situation exacerbated by the reality that they are now being forced to vote in 2024 under a discriminatory map deemed illegal, ‘mean-spirited’ and  ‘egregious’ by a federal judge.

“Justice cannot and should not have to wait any longer. We urge the Fifth Circuit to uphold its own prior precedent in affirming coalition claims under the Voting Rights Act and to protect the freedom to vote for all Galvestonians.”

Background: On October 13, 2023, a federal district court judge ruled that Galveston County’s 2021 redistricting plan, which he called “mean-spirited” and “egregious,” violated Section 2 of the federal Voting Rights Act. In that ruling, the judge ordered the county to draw new, fair maps in time for the start of the November 11, 2023 candidate filing period for the 2024 Commissioners Court elections. 

However, Galveston County appealed the ruling to a panel of judges on the Fifth Circuit of Appeals and was able to temporarily block new maps from being drawn — even as the judges agreed with the facts of the district court ruling. The full Fifth Circuit eventually took up the appeal, but CLC and our clients argued that fair districts should be in place while the appeals process was ongoing. In December 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court disagreed.

Now, Galveston County’s 2024 elections will be conducted under a map, known as Map 2, that a federal judge ruled illegal and discriminatory in October 2023. Unfortunately, Map 2 does not allow Black and Latino voters to elect a representative of choice for the Commissioners Court in any of the county’s four districts.

This case threatens to undermine a component of the Voting Rights Act: ‘coalition districts,’ which ensure that voters from different marginalized groups who live in the same area, have similar interests, face a shared history of past and present-day discrimination, and form a majority within the district can still elect candidates who best serve their communities. When voters of color in a coalition district sue for fair representation under the Voting Rights Act — as Black and Latino voters did in Galveston, TX — this is called a ‘coalition claim.’ The Fifth Circuit explicitly upheld coalition claims as constitutional in Campos v. City of Baytown, TX.

More information about the case can be found here.

Yesterday, Trevor Potter, president of Campaign Legal Center and Republican former chairman of the Federal Election Commission, submitted a letter to the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, urging immediate action to advance to the Senate floor three bipartisan bills addressing artificial intelligence (AI) in our elections.

The letter comes ahead of tomorrow’s Senate Rules Committee markup on the three bipartisan bills — the Protect Elections from Deceptive AI Act, the AI Transparency in Elections Act of 2024 and the Preparing Election Administrators for AI Act — that each address the unique and unprecedented challenges AI creates for elections from varying angles.

“2024 will be the first election cycle where Artificial Intelligence is widely used from beginning to end — and there are very real concerns that this new technology could be used to deceive voters and manipulate our electoral process,” said Trevor Potter, president of Campaign Legal Center. “These recently introduced, bipartisan bills are a constitutionally grounded response to this risk that provide desperately needed transparency for the growing political use of this technology and provide protection for its most dangerous applications. For the sake of our country, they must be considered and passed without delay.”  

These bipartisan bills provide a complementary response to the challenges AI creates for elections. The bills provide necessary transparency for the growing political uses of this technology, prohibit its most dangerous applications for our democracy, and ensure that election officials are prepared to address the threat of AI to their critical work. The proposed policies enjoy widespread support from the American public.

Last year, CLC president Trevor Potter testified to the committee at a hearing, “AI and the Future of our Elections,” that addressed the looming threat of AI in elections. His testimony focused on how AI tools could be used to easily generate and spread political communications that are deceptive or fraudulent, and the urgent need for policymakers to address the potential impacts of this technology on our democracy.  

Now, with the November election less than six months away and the committee marking up three bipartisan, common-sense bills, Congress must act without delay.

Learn more about steps our government can take to address the threat of AI in our elections here. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) against “Ardleigh Impact Corporation” (Ardleigh) and any unknown person(s) that made over $2.5 million in contributions to six federal committees in Ardleigh’s name, which is a violation of federal campaign finance laws.
  
The complaint alleges that Ardleigh, which was registered in Delaware in 2023, was used to hide the true source(s) of over $2.5 million in contributions made to six different federal committees since February 2024. The committees that received this money include the Congressional Leadership Fund; AFC Victory Fund; Buckeye Leadership Fund, Inc.; Conservatives for American Excellence Inc.; Defend Ohio Values PAC; and More Jobs, Less Government.
  
“Straw donor” contributions are prohibited under the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) because they undermine electoral transparency and deprive voters of essential information.  

“While straw donor schemes are illegal, they have proliferated since the Citizens United ruling, which has allowed wealthy special interests to funnel unlimited amounts of money — often in secret — into our elections,” said Saurav Ghosh, director of federal campaign finance reform at Campaign Legal Center. “Voters have a right to know who is spending money to try and influence their votes and our government. Left unchecked, straw donor schemes like Ardleigh risk depriving voters of the information they need to meaningfully participate in the democratic process.” 

Ardleigh appears to have been used for the sole purpose of hiding the identities of the true contributors who provided over $2.5 million to these committees. The corporation provides no information on the true source(s) of this money, nor does it appear to have engaged in any commercial activities in the months leading up to the disbursement of these funds. This supports finding reason to believe that another source had to have provided Ardleigh with the money needed to make these contributions.
  
The FEC has issued civil fines in the recent past to those operating straw donor schemes to conceal the true sources of campaign spending. Federal campaign finance laws require transparency in all electoral spending. The FEC needs to investigate this straw donor scheme so that the public can know who is behind the $2.5 million contributed in Ardleigh’s name. 

See the complaint here.