CLC et al v. Scott

Austin, Texas - Today, Campaign Legal Center (CLC), the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Texas (ACLU Texas), the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and DĒMOS filed a lawsuit asking the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas to order Texas’ Secretary of State to produce records responsive to their previous requests seeking information about a state program that threatens to remove naturalized citizens from the voter rolls.

On August 20, 2021, the Office of the Attorney General of Texas sent a letter stating that Secretary John Scott’s office had initiated a process to identify alleged non-U.S. citizens on the voter rolls and send the identified registrants’ information to county election administrators to either verify their citizenship status or cancel their voter registration. Scott’s office has identified thousands of registrants for potential removal under this program. Soon after the program was initiated, local registrars quickly identified many of these individuals as naturalized citizens whose registration should not be in doubt. Recent reporting suggests that the Secretary’s program sweeps too broadly and endangers the registrations of thousands of eligible citizens.

In August and October 2021, CLC, ACLU Texas, MALDEF, Lawyers’ Committee and DĒMOS submitted records requests to Secretary Scott for records related to the new voter purge program and the data the Secretary of State relied on to determine each voter’s citizenship status. Under the National Voter Registration Act, the Secretary of State is required to keep this data and disclose it upon request. However, Texas has so far failed to produce any records.

“The right to vote is what makes this country a free one and naturalized citizens in Texas, and every U.S. state, should not have to worry about being purged from the voting rolls. We all deserve the chance to cast our ballots freely, safely and equally,” said Paul Smith, senior vice president at Campaign Legal Center. “Sadly, it is clear that the court now needs to step in and protect that freedom by compelling the state to produce the records for this program—thereby making our elections safe, accessible and transparent.”

"Texas can't shirk its obligations under federal law to release information about its new voter purge program," said Ashley Harris, attorney at the ACLU of Texas. "The public deserves to know why Texas continues to falsely flag U.S. citizens for removal from the voter rolls."

“The Secretary of State’s voter purge program once again surgically targets naturalized U.S. citizens for investigation and removal from the voter rolls,” stated Nina Perales, MALDEF Vice President of Litigation. “Naturalized U.S. citizens have the same right to vote as all other citizens, and this new lawsuit seeks to ensure that Texas treats its voters fairly.”

“It seems that Texas is incapable – or worse, unwilling – to learn from the past. Racial and ethnic discrimination in voting has been a sad part of Texas’s history continuing in the present. And discriminating against naturalized citizens falls into this unfortunate pattern,” commented Ezra Rosenberg, co-director of the Voting Rights Project for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “We need to shed light on precisely how Texas is identifying voters it wants to purge from the rolls in order to ensure that the precious right to vote is not snatched from eligible voters, whose only ‘crime’ is that they are naturalized and not native-born citizens.”

"This effort to block Black and brown Texans' access to the ballot is part of a larger, nationwide effort to dismantle the fundamentals of our democracy. Naturalized citizens who are registered to vote have every right to have their voices heard in every election," said Brenda Wright, Senior Advisor for Legal Strategies at Demos. "The state owes the people of Texas transparency regarding its voter purge practices to ensure fairness and confidence in the democratic process."

In 2019, CLC, ACLU Texas, MALDEF, Lawyers’ Committee, and DĒMOS all represented clients suing Texas’ former Secretary of State for inaccurately flagging tens of thousands of naturalized U.S. citizen registered voters as non-U.S. citizens. After a district court found the program likely unlawful, Texas entered into a settlement agreement to reform its flawed voter purge program. But the reintroduction of this program has been riddled with reported errors. While the state claims to be applying the procedures outlined in that settlement agreement, Secretary Scott’s refusal to turn over basic information has made this difficult to verify.

Early indicators show that the state may not be following the procedure outlined, leading voters to be inaccurately flagged as non-U.S. citizens. According to public statements from the Texas Secretary of State’s office, 2,327 of the over 11,000 registered voters flagged as being potential non-U.S. citizens have had their voter registrations canceled. Yet, the state has only confirmed that 278—approximately 2%—of the voters flagged are non-U.S. citizens.

The court must ensure that the state produces lists of every registered voter identified under its new voter deletion program as a potential non-U.S. citizen and the data the Secretary of State relied on to flag individuals as potential non-U.S. citizens. This will enable good government and civil rights groups to continue to protect Texans’ freedom to vote, ensure that their voices are heard and guarantee that the state’s elections are safe and accessible for all.

At Campaign Legal Center, we are advancing democracy through law. Learn more about our work.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Trevor Potter, president of Campaign Legal Center (CLC), and a Republican former chairman of the Federal Election Commission, released the following statement:

“Tonight is a disappointing night for all who have been fighting for the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act (H.R. 5746)—a critical piece of legislation aimed at strengthening our democracy. Indeed, this month and this past year have been rough for everyone who cares about the freedom to vote.

This legislation was crafted with the aim of achieving goals that have long had bipartisan support and are viewed favorably by a strong majority of Americans—goals like prohibiting gerrymandering, increasing disclosure of money spent in federal elections, protecting the freedom to vote, fighting election sabotage by protecting the independence of election officials, and restoring and modernizing the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

These should not have become partisan issues.

I still have hope that we can achieve these goals and so should you. The road ahead might be a bit more challenging, but I urge everyone not to buy into the “All is Lost” media narrative that is already playing out.

The important work of strengthening our democracy must continue. Through litigation and work in the states, groups like Campaign Legal Center (CLC) and our allies have already been scoring wins on multiple fronts in fights against gerrymandering and numerous barriers to voting. Although these wins are mostly incremental, local wins and state work are critical as we push forward.

Members of Congress cannot and should not think they are done with the work needed to strengthen our democracy. They can block moving the legislation forward and go on recess, but they should only do so knowing that their work is not done until voting rights protections are passed and signed into law. 

As the great John Lewis, for whom this bill is named, once wrote, "You must do something. Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each generation must do its part to help build what we called the Beloved Community, a nation and world society at peace with itself."

With the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act, the Senate has the opportunity to require a strong, free and fair voting system in this country and ensure the ability for every American to participate in safe, accessible and transparent elections.

Tonight, we experienced a setback at the hands of 50 Senate Republicans and 2 Senate Democrats. But tomorrow, we get up and continue to push for accessible voting and a democracy that is responsive to the people. In the meantime, I must take this moment to thank Leader Schumer and the other Democratic Senators who spent countless hours fighting for their constituents. Their work cannot be forgotten.

Moving forward, we cannot stop letting Congress know that we care, not until the promise of democracy is truly realized for each and every American.”

Campaign Legal Center (CLC) applauds President Joseph R. Biden for acting to avoid a potential vacancy on the Federal Election Commission (FEC) by nominating experienced election law attorney Dara Lindenbaum to serve on the Commission. After multiple periods in which the FEC was hindered by a lack of quorum, the administration’s proactive replacement of a commissioner serving on an expired term should enable the FEC to retain its legal ability to function through the 2022 election.

To reduce political corruption, we need a strong, effective FEC to enforce campaign finance laws and hold political candidates and their donors accountable – the nomination of qualified candidates is an essential component of a successful FEC. We urge President Biden to continue to nominate qualified candidates who are fully committed to protecting the First Amendment rights of all Americans to have their voices heard. 

At Campaign Legal Center, we are advancing democracy through law. Learn more about our work.

Tacoma, Washington – Voting and civil rights groups are suing Washington state officials over a state redistricting plan that violates the federal Voting Rights Act and dilutes the voting strength of Latino voters, according to a lawsuit filed Jan. 19, 2022.

Campaign Legal Center (CLC), MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund), the UCLA Voting Rights Project and attorney Edwardo Morfin of the Morfin Law Firm in Kennewick, Washington, filed the lawsuit on behalf of individual Latino Washington voters and a non-profit organization committed to fair redistricting in that state. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.

“The Washington State Redistricting Commission’s proposed state legislative map dilutes the voting power of Latinos in the Yakima Valley and Pasco regions, denying them an equal opportunity to elect candidates of choice, as is required under the Voting Rights Act,” said Mark Gaber, senior director, redistricting at Campaign Legal Center (CLC). “Federal and state courts have twice invalidated election systems that discriminate against Yakima Valley’s Latino voters. The Commission’s refusal to learn from these court decisions has necessitated this third lawsuit. The discriminatory voting practices against Latino voters in the Yakima Valley must end.”

“The Washington State Redistricting Commission unfortunately joins a long list of state authorities over the last 20 years that have sought to stem the growing power of the Latino vote in the face of demographic trends,” stated MALDEF staff attorney Ernest I. Herrera. “We ask a federal court to give Latinos in Washington state the electoral opportunity that the Commission denied them.”

According to the complaint, the Washington State Redistricting Commission in November drew its adopted state legislative district plan in such a way that Latino voters will not be able to elect state legislative candidates of their choice in the 15th Legislative District. Attorneys argue that the plan for Yakima Valley, which includes two counties that have majority-Latino populations, disperses Latino voters across several legislative districts with white majorities, a practice known as “cracking.” Instead, the suit claims, commissioners should have drawn a legislative district that actually gives Latino voters an equal opportunity to elect candidates of their choice. According to the 2020 Census, Latinos accounted for over 30 percent of total population growth over the last decade in Washington.

Attorneys argue that the redistricting plans intentionally violate Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act which prohibits discrimination based on race, ethnicity, and language.

“The fight to defend our democracy and ensure the voting rights of all Americans is taking place through battles in county and state courthouses all across the nation. In Yakima Valley, Latinos have driven the region’s population growth and it is imperative that Washington State does not dilute the ability of Latino voters to meaningfully exercise the right to choose candidates that represent their community’s needs,” said Sonni Waknin, UCLA Voting Rights Project managing attorney and voting rights counsel.

Attorneys are asking the federal court to prevent Washington state from using the maps and instead adopt a plan that includes a majority-Latino state legislative district in the Yakima Valley region that does not dilute the voting strength of Latino voters.

The lawsuit names as defendants Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, Washington State House Speaker Laurie Jinkins and Washington State Senate Majority Leader Andy Billig.

Plaintiffs include eight individual voters from the Yakima Valley and the Southcentral Coalition of People of Color for Redistricting, a non-profit organization whose members include Latino registered voters who reside in the Yakima Valley region and Yakima County.

Read the complaint HERE.

At Campaign Legal Center, we are advancing democracy through law. Learn more about our work.