Nashville, TN – Last week, the U.S. Court for the Middle District of Tennessee rejected the state’s attempt to dismiss challenges to the systemic failures of Tennessee’s voting rights restoration process for people with prior felony convictions. The case now heads toward trial.

Campaign Legal Center (CLC), Free Hearts Tennessee, Baker Donelson and Equal Justice Under Law are representing the Tennessee Conference of the NAACP and five Tennesseans seeking to restore their right to vote in a lawsuit challenging Tennessee’s complicated voting rights restoration process.

Tennessee law allows people who meet certain criteria after a felony conviction to request and be issued a Certificate of Restoration of Voting Rights (COR). The state of Tennessee filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit’s claims that state officials have failed to implement a process for obtaining CORs that fulfills the minimum requirements of the United States Constitution, leaving Tennesseans with past felonies at high risk of being deprived of their right to vote. The district court’s ruling rejected the state’s motion to dismiss, and the lawsuit will now proceed to trial.

“Our most fundamental right as Americans is the right to vote, but for far too many people, that right is being denied because of a process that freezes out communities that have struggled for equal access for too long,” said Blair Bowie, senior legal counsel and Restore Your Vote manager at Campaign Legal Center. “The decision to allow these claims to proceed is the first step towards fixing Tennessee’s unequal, inaccessible, opaque and inaccurate voting rights restoration process.”

Tennessee’s voting rights restoration process was recently thrust into the national spotlight when Shelby County resident Pamela Moses was sentenced to six years and one day in prison for submitting a COR filled out by a probation officer which contained an error.

“Pamela Moses’ case showed that the people trying to restore their voting rights always unfairly bear the costs of Tennessee’s negligence, whether they are wrongly told they are ineligible or wrongly told they are eligible.” said Keeda Haynes, legal advisor at Free Hearts. “It’s high time the state creates a centralized process where Tennesseans can get an official answer on their eligibility and allow for an appeal if they feel that answer is wrong.”

“Felony disenfranchisement disproportionately harms Black people and other communities of color,” said Gloria Sweet-Love, president of the Tennessee NAACP. “One in five Black people and one in ten Latinos in Tennessee can’t vote because of past convictions. That is the second highest rate of Black disenfranchisement in the country, and the highest rate of Latino disenfranchisement. The legislature created a pathway for members of our communities to restore their rights, but these officials have failed to create a system that works.”

“The problems with the defendants’ system are avoidable and easily fixed,” said Charles Grant, shareholder at Baker Donelson. “Until remedies are implemented, fully eligible Tennesseans will continue to be erroneously denied restoration of their voting rights. This suit seeks to compel Defendants to do their jobs and administer the COR process in a manner that passes basic constitutional muster.”

“There is no right more basic to the health of a democracy than the right to vote, and Tennessee’s failed rights restoration scheme means the unlawful exclusion of hundreds of thousands of Tennesseans from the political process,” said Phil Telfeyan, executive director of Equal Justice Under Law. “Tennessee is effectively silencing many of its people, but today that silence ends.”

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

Grand Rapids, MI – Campaign Legal Center (CLC) and Voters Not Politicians (VNP) issued the following statements after a U.S. District Court ruling which upheld the congressional maps developed by Michigan’s independent redistricting commission:

“Elections should be determined by voters, not politicians. I am grateful the court sided with Michigan’s voters, who overwhelmingly supported the creation of an independent redistricting commission to design fair maps that ensure our political system is truly of, by and for the people,” said Paul Smith, senior vice president at Campaign Legal Center.

“This November, Michiganders will be voting for Congressional representatives with fair, voter-drawn maps for the first time in our state’s history,” said Nancy Wang, executive director of Voters Not Politicians. “We are grateful to the CLC legal team for its expertise and prompt action in defending the will of Michigan voters who approved the Michigan Independent Redistricting Commission and the requirements it used to draw new Congressional districts.”

Michigan voters passed a citizen-led ballot initiative in 2018 that created an independent redistricting commission to draw congressional maps. The commission dutifully adopted and enacted a new plan for Michigan’s 13 Congressional districts in late December 2021. A group of Michigan plaintiffs then filed a lawsuit challenging the maps and seeking to overturn them.

In February, CLC intervened in the lawsuit on behalf of VPN to ensure that the court faithfully interpreted the redistricting standards enacted by the voters of Michigan. As the principal sponsor of that ballot initiative, VNP sought to defend the procedures used by the nonpartisan commission and ensure that efforts to undermine its authority or undo the purpose of the amendment were curbed.

Independent redistricting commissions take the power of redistricting out of the hands of partisan legislators, who have proven that they will use the process to gain power when given the opportunity to do so. These commissions give the power to the citizens to choose their representatives and create a more fair and transparent process for redrawing districts.

On Friday, April 1, the court upheld the maps drawn by the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission saying the plan, “came the closest to perfect compliance with the Supreme Court’s ‘one-person, one-vote’ rule.”  

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

WASHINGTON - Today, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) and Barton Mendez Soto PLLC filed a lawsuit in federal court on behalf of Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA), League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), Arizona Students’ Association (ASA) and the Arizona Democracy Resource Center (ADRC) challenging H.B. 2492, an anti-voter law which imposes unnecessary and discriminatory burdens on Arizona voters in violation of the U.S. Constitution and federal law.

The lawsuit alleges that H.B. 2492 denies eligible Arizona voters the right to vote based solely on which type of voter registration form they submit and whether they can obtain, copy and submit paperwork that proves their current residence and U.S. citizenship status with their voter registration. Voters are already required to attest to these facts – under penalty of perjury – to register to vote, and federal law prohibits states from imposing additional requirements to register to vote in federal elections.

H.B. 2492 targets naturalized voters with additional burdens to vote, requiring them to disclose their place of their birth, which is irrelevant to any voter qualification. The law could also subject voters to investigation and prosecution if the information they provide contradicts the information in stale, faulty databases. These anti-voter provisions discriminate against entire sects of voters, including naturalized citizens, college and university students and married people who change their name, preventing them from freely exercising their freedom to vote.

“The anti-voter policies in H.B. 2492, signed into law by Gov. Doug Ducey, create new barriers to Arizonans’ freedom to vote and violate longstanding federal law,” said Trevor Potter, founder and president of Campaign Legal Center and Republican former Chairman of the Federal Election Commission. “Voters should be able to cast their ballots freely, safely and equally to make the promise of democracy real for all Arizonans. This law takes Arizona in the wrong direction.”

“LUCHA works tirelessly to engage millions of Arizona voters across the state and to encourage them to participate in our democracy. We are outraged to see this piece of anti-voter legislation be signed into law. But we aren’t giving up,” said Tomás Robles, Co-Executive Director of Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA). “We are eager to join the effort to challenge it in the courts, and just as eager to continue our work marching with Arizonans to the polls.”

"For the past 93 years, LULAC has fought to ensure that Hispanics around the nation have the right to vote. Today, we reaffirm this commitment and stand up for the rights of Arizonans to this most sacred tenet of American Democracy and strenuously oppose HB2492," said Domingo Garcia, National President of League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC).

“HB 2492 is a barrier to students being able to vote. We have seen time and time again when registering students to vote that additional documentation requirements intimidate students, limit students, and stress students out on such an important matter in their adulthood,” said Cesar Aguilar, Executive Director of Arizona Students’ Association (ASA). “When ASA along with LULAC was able to change how students registered to vote in LULAC V. Reagan, it made a huge difference. Students felt confident in the easy process, and it helped ASA register thousands more students. Putting more barriers up for students only makes it harder to vote, period.”

"We believe that everyone should have a voice in decisions that impact our communities, including the laws that govern our lives. This bill is a direct attack on our people's voices," said M. Teresa Mabry, Co-Executive Director of Programs and Strategy for Arizona Democracy Resource Center (ADRC) Action.

In 2018, CLC filed a lawsuit against Arizona over its “dual registration system,” alleging that election officials in Arizona were determining whether to register voters for federal elections based solely on whether the voter submitted a state-issued registration form or a federal registration form. As a result of the lawsuit, election officials are required to register voters for federal elections regardless of which form they used and must compare registration applications against the state driver’s license database to determine whether the state already had proof of a voter’s U.S. citizenship before blocking a voter from registering for state elections.

H.B. 2492 returns Arizona to its arbitrary dual-registration system, where a voter’s right to vote in federal elections is contingent on which form the voter uses to register. The new law also prohibits voters who do not produce specific documents from using vote-by-mail or early voting and prevents them from voting in presidential elections at all.

The lawsuit, filed in federal district court against Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, alleges that H.B. 2492’s burdensome registration requirements violate the U.S. Constitution, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the National Voter Registration Act. The lawsuit asks the court to block enforcement of the law’s challenged provisions.

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

WASHINGTON , D.C. — Trevor Potter, founder and president of Campaign Legal Center and Republican former Chairman of the Federal Election Commission, issued the following statement after Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed H.B. 2492 into law. Potter recently authored an op-ed for the Arizona Republic outlining the anti-voter provisions of the bill.

“The anti-voter policies in H.B. 2492, signed into law by Gov. Doug Ducey, create new barriers to Arizonans’ freedom to vote and violate longstanding federal law. Voters should be able cast their ballots freely, safely and equally to make the promise of democracy real for all Arizonans. This law takes Arizona in the wrong direction.”