Today, Tennessee agreed to update its website to correct inaccurate information about voter registration rules related to felony convictions. The state also agreed to distribute this information sheet to voter registration agencies. These changes come after over six months of steady pressure from CLC, and the Tennessee chapter of the NAACP, to ensure that all those who have the right to vote are able to do so. 

A voter who contacted our Restore Your Vote hotline learned that she had been wrongfully removed from her county’s registration list because of her felony conviction – even though she had been eligible to vote for several years and Gov. Cuomo signed an executive order restoring voting rights to residents with felony convictions following their release from prison. This error cost her the ability to participate in the historic 2018 midterm elections. After the Albany County Board of Elections ignored our record requests regarding the voter’s removal, we wrote them with recommendations for how they can avoid these errors in the future. We also sent a copy to the New York State Board of Elections, and wrote another letter to Gov. Cuomo, urging him to support legislation that would codify his executive order under state law.

A voter who contacted our Restore Your Vote hotline learned that she had been wrongfully removed from her county’s registration list because of her felony conviction – even though she had been eligible to vote for several years and Gov. Cuomo signed an executive order restoring voting rights to residents with felony convictions following their release from prison. This error cost her the ability to participate in the historic 2018 midterm elections. After the Albany County Board of Elections ignored our record requests regarding the voter’s removal, we wrote them with recommendations for how they can avoid these errors in the future. We also sent a copy to the New York State Board of Elections, and wrote another letter to Gov. Cuomo, urging him to support legislation that would codify his executive order under state law.

After former Secretary David Whitley announced Texas’s flawed voter purge program, targeting naturalized citizens for removal from the voter rolls, CLC alongside its co-counsel filed a motion for a preliminary injunction halting the program. In preparation for an intensive, evidence-heavy three-day hearing, CLC subpoenaed documents from the Texas Department of Public Safety regarding their role in the citizenship matching process. These documents are public records, and provide a window into the communications between the Texas Secretary of State and the Texas Department of Public Safety as they worked to develop the flawed matching process, which wrongly identified thousands of Texas voters as non-U.S. citizens.

The Fifth Circuit ruled against the Plaintiffs in this case challenging the Hattiesburg City Council wards under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The Fifth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision, finding that the ward plan adopted after the 2010 census does inhibit African-American voters' opportunity to participate in the electoral process. CLC represented the Plaintiffs on appeal. 

In its Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment and Opposition to the Motion for Summary Judgment, CLC argues that DOJ has failed to conduct a reasonable search to uncover all responsive records and has unjustifiably withheld materials not subject to exemptions under the deliberative process privilege, the presidential communications privilege, and the attorney work-product privilege. CLC asks the court for a favorable summary judgment and an order compelling DOJ to supplement its search and produce all responsive materials that are not properly exempt.

On April 2, 2019, CLC submitted this letter to all members of the Tennessee General Assembly, urging them to reject legislation that would impose severe criminal and civil penalties on organizations that submit deficient or inaccurate voter registration forms. Both House Bill 1079 and Senate Bill 971 would unlawfully burden the First Amendment rights of groups engaged in voter registration drives and drastically undermine voter registration activities in Tennessee, a state whose voter registration rates already rank among the lowest in the country.

The following is a letter on behalf of Campaign Legal Center encouraging Governor Sisolak to sign AB 431, milestone legislation that would restore the right to vote to more than 77,000 Nevadans. AB 431 will not only re-enfranchise tens of thousands of individuals, it will remove barriers to voting that have long blocked Nevadans with convictions from the ballot box. By limiting and simplifying its law, Nevada will also avoid potential conflicts with federal law that exist under the current disenfranchisement scheme. We are thrilled that the Nevada legislature has voted to end this dark chapter in Nevada's democracy and we urge the Governor to sign it into law as soon as possible.

On May 11, 2018, CLC, along with the Southern Center for Human Rights, sent a letter to the Georgia Secretary of State and Georgia Director of Elections requesting records relating to the processes and procedures used by the state for identifying voters who are ineligible to vote based on a felony conviction and a determination that they have not completed their sentence. Specifically, the letter requests (1) the policies and procedures related to determining whether any given felony conviction is disqualifying because it involves moral turpitude; and (2) the policies and procedures used to determine whether service of any particular sentence is complete and the relevance of any outstanding legal financial obligations to that determination.

On August 14, 2018, CLC, along with the Southern Center for Human Rights, sent a letter to the Georgia Secretary of State and Georgia Director of Elections requesting specific documents relating to the state’s felony disenfranchisement policies and its processes for determining the eligibility of people with felony convictions to register to vote. The letter responded to the documents produced by the state in response to the CLC and SCHR’s earlier NVRA notice letter, dated May 11, 2018.

On February 26, 2019, CLC, along with the Southern Center for Human Rights, sent a letter to the Office of the Attorney General of Georgia requesting the policies and procedures governing the voter eligibility and voter registration of individuals in Georgia who have been convicted of felonies. The letter explains how Georgia’s guidance on the question of when the sentences of disenfranchised individuals are deemed “complete,” such that they may register to vote, has been incomplete and inconsistent. Specifically, Georgia has not clarified how an individual’s outstanding legal financial obligations affect his or her eligibility to vote. The letter urges Georgia’s officials to modify the state voter registration form and the Georgia-specific instructions on the federal voter registration form to describe these policies. The letter was sent pursuant to the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (“NVRA”).

In response to CLC’s FOIA Request, the Civil Rights Division (CRD) of the Department of Justice filed a Declaration detailing CRD’s efforts to comply with CLC’s FOIA Request. The Declaration included a Vaughn Index, which listed a description of documents withheld or redacted by CRD, along with the applicable legal exemptions that they claimed as justification for withholding or redacting the documents.

In response to CLC’s FOIA Request, the Office of Information Policy (OIP) of the Department of Justice filed a Declaration detailing OIP’s efforts to comply with CLC’s FOIA Request. The Declaration included a Vaughn Index, which listed a description of documents withheld or redacted by OIP, along with the applicable legal exemptions that they claimed as justification for withholding or redacting the documents.

In response to CLC’s FOIA Request, the Justice Management Division of the Department of Justice filed a Declaration detailing JMD’s efforts to comply with CLC’s FOIA Request. The Declaration included a Vaughn Index, which listed a description of documents withheld or redacted by JMD, along with the applicable legal exemptions that they claimed as justification for withholding or redacting the documents.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) moved for summary judgment with respect to CLC’s case challenging the adequacy of DOJ’s response to CLC’s FOIA Request to the Justice Management Division (JMD), Civil Rights Division (CRD) and Office of Information Policy (OIP).

On May 16, 2019, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) filed its Answer to CLC’s Complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

On May 9, 2019, CLC, along with its co-counsel in League of Women Voters of Tennessee v. Hargett, filed suit against Tennessee challenging the state’s new voter registration law, known as House Bill 1079-Senate Bill 971. The law imposes some of the most stringent regulations on community organized voter registration activity in the county, accompanied by steep civil fines and criminal penalties any violation, no matter how small. Together with co-counsel, CLC represents the League of Women Voters of Tennessee, Mid-South Peace and Justice Center, the American Muslim Advisory Council, Rock the Vote, and Spread the Vote in challenging the new law, which plainly violates the First Amendment speech and associational rights of the Plaintiffs by chilling their voter registration activity.

On May 9, 2019, CLC, along with its co-counsel in League of Women Voters of Tennessee v. Hargett, sent a letter to Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett and Tennessee Coordinator of Elections Mark Goins informing them that the state’s new voter registration law, known as House Bill 1079-Senate Bill 971, violates the National Voter Registration Act (“NVRA”). The letter provides formal notice of the ways in which the law imposes unjustified restrictions on community-based voter registration, in violation of the NVRA. As the letter explains, the state law’s voter registration restrictions conflict with and are therefore preempted by the NVRA.

CLC filed an amended complaint on behalf of individuals against the City of Virginia Beach. Virginia Beach City Council, the City Manager and the Director of Elections/General Registrar challenging the at-large election system used to elect members of the City Council.

CLC reached a final settlement agreement with the state of Texas on behalf of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and Julie Hilberg in our lawsuit, LULAC v. Whitley. The lawsuit challenged Secretary of State David Whitley's flawed voter purge program, which targeted naturalized citizens and threatened the voting rights of tens of thousands of Texans. As part of the agreement, the state will no longer be permitted to use stale driver license data to question the citizenship of newly naturalized American citizens. Instead, it may only flag individuals who first registered to vote and later provided evidence of non U.S. citizenship to the Texas Department of Safety for further follow up.