Campaign Legal Center (CLC) submitted testimony in support of amending the Washington Voting Rights Act (WVRA) to include a preclearance system. CLC’s testimony focused on the benefits of preclearing election law changes to avoid costly litigation and prevent discriminatory voting practices from coming into effect, as well as the ease of administering a preclearance system.

Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filed a friend of the court brief on behalf several former Department of Justice attorneys in Arkansas NAACP v. State of Arkansas. In Arkansas NAACP v. State of Arkansas, organizations appealed a federal district court’s decision that private parties are not allowed to file lawsuits under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. 

On March 30, 2022, the U.S. District Court in the Middle District of Tennessee denied in large part Tennessee's motion to dismiss the Tennessee NAACP's challenge to the state's failed voting rights restoration process. The claims under the U.S. Constitution will proceed, as well as a claim that Tennessee has violated the National Voter Registration Act.

On March 31, LUCHA, LULAC, Arizona Students’ Association and ADRC Action filed suit against Arizona Secretary of State Hobbs challenging H.B. 2492, an extreme anti-voter law that imposes documentary proof of residence and citizenship requirements on voter registration, discriminates against naturalized U.S. citizens and strips certain voters of the right to vote in presidential elections and by mail.

Campaign Legal Center (CLC) provided written testimony to the Committee on House Administration ahead of a Subcommittee on Elections hearing on Texas voting practices. CLC and our partners recently took Texas to court over its discriminatory, illegal voter purge that disproportionately targeted naturalized U.S. citizens who registered to vote after obtaining their citizenship, and the litigation ultimately resulted in a settlement agreement ending the state’s flawed voter purge program.

CLC submitted testimony in opposition to a new omnibus bill pending in the Georgia state legislature – HB 1464. The current version of the bill includes provisions allowing the Georgia Bureau of Investigations to intrude into the elections process, requiring any donation or gift (including food and water to voters) to be approved and distributed solely by the State Elections Board, and decreasing the number of voting machines at each precinct.

CLC with its partners on the DC Restore the Vote Coalition submitted testimony at the DC City Council’s oversight hearing for the DC Board of Elections (DC BOE). The testimony urges the DC BOE to make DC’s voter registration form accessible to eligible DC residents who are incarcerated in jails and the federal Bureau of Prisons and to adopt administrative practices to ensure ballot access for incarcerated voters.

Campaign Legal Center (CLC), the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Texas (ACLU Texas), the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and DĒMOS filed a motion for preliminary injunction against Texas Secretary of State John B. Scott’s refusal to produce records responsive to their previous record requests made pursuant to the National Voter Registration Act. The requested records pertain to a state program that threatens to remove naturalized citizens from the voter rolls.

After Campaign Legal Center (CLC) won a preliminary injunction on behalf of the plaintiffs, the state of Kansas has agreed to a permanent injunction of its law prohibiting distribution of absentee ballot applications by out-of-state persons or entities.

In this November 2019 letter, the Tennessee Elections Division stated that Tennesseans with convictions from other states may register to vote if they have had their rights of citizenship restored by the state of conviction. The Elections Division later reversed their position, denying Ernest Falls' voter registration and prompting CLC's lawsuit.

Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filed a brief on the merits at the Tennessee Supreme Court on behalf of Ernest Falls, who has been denied the right to vote for failure to pay outstanding court costs from a 1986 felony conviction in Virginia, but Tennessee law does not authorize the Secretary of State to deny the right to vote to individuals with out-of-state convictions if they have had their full rights of citizenship restored in that other state, which Mr. Falls has. He seeks to appeal the decision of the Tennessee Court of Appeals at Nashville.

Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filed an application to appeal at the Tennessee Supreme Court on behalf of Ernest Falls, who has been denied the right to vote for failure to pay outstanding court costs from a 1986 felony conviction in Virginia, but Tennessee law does not authorize the Secretary of State to deny the right to vote to individuals with out-of-state convictions if they have had their full rights of citizenship restored in that other state, which Mr. Falls has. He seeks to appeal the decision of the Tennessee Court of Appeals at Nashville.

Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filed a complaint on behalf of Greater Birmingham Ministries (GBM) against the Alabama Secretary of State for failure to comply with the National Voter Registration Act in rejecting GBM’s request for voter registration and voter purge records.

While we wait for Congress to restore the Voting Rights Act, it is up to organizers to engage in their own “community preclearance”: to fill the gap by spotting and responding to issues that prevent voters of color from accessing the ballot box.

These advocacy tools aim to help local organizers spot issues for in-person voting, and to demand their local government provide better in-person voting options for voters in their counties.

On Jan. 27, 2022, joined by eight national and California-based partners, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) sent letters the California Secretary of State and six county clerks in California in response to letters they received from Judicial Watch threatening the counties with legal action if they did not engage in aggressive purging of their voter registration rolls. CLC and partners wrote to these election officials to remind them of their obligations under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) and provide assistance to them in their efforts to maintain clean and accurate voter rolls in a lawful and equitable manner. 

On Jan. 27, 2022, joined by eight national and California-based partners, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) sent letters the California Secretary of State and six county clerks in California in response to letters they received from Judicial Watch threatening the counties with legal action if they did not engage in aggressive purging of their voter registration rolls. CLC and partners wrote to these election officials to remind them of their obligations under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) and provide assistance to them in their efforts to maintain clean and accurate voter rolls in a lawful and equitable manner. 

On Jan. 27, 2022, joined by eight national and California-based partners, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) sent letters the California Secretary of State and six county clerks in California in response to letters they received from Judicial Watch threatening the counties with legal action if they did not engage in aggressive purging of their voter registration rolls. CLC and partners wrote to these election officials to remind them of their obligations under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) and provide assistance to them in their efforts to maintain clean and accurate voter rolls in a lawful and equitable manner. 

On Jan. 27, 2022, joined by eight national and California-based partners, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) sent letters the California Secretary of State and six county clerks in California in response to letters they received from Judicial Watch threatening the counties with legal action if they did not engage in aggressive purging of their voter registration rolls. CLC and partners wrote to these election officials to remind them of their obligations under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) and provide assistance to them in their efforts to maintain clean and accurate voter rolls in a lawful and equitable manner. 

On Jan. 27, 2022, joined by eight national and California-based partners, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) sent letters the California Secretary of State and six county clerks in California in response to letters they received from Judicial Watch threatening the counties with legal action if they did not engage in aggressive purging of their voter registration rolls. CLC and partners wrote to these election officials to remind them of their obligations under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) and provide assistance to them in their efforts to maintain clean and accurate voter rolls in a lawful and equitable manner. 

On Jan. 27, 2022, joined by eight national and California-based partners, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) sent letters the California Secretary of State and six county clerks in California in response to letters they received from Judicial Watch threatening the counties with legal action if they did not engage in aggressive purging of their voter registration rolls. CLC and partners wrote to these election officials to remind them of their obligations under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) and provide assistance to them in their efforts to maintain clean and accurate voter rolls in a lawful and equitable manner.