Project Vote and partners put Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp on notice today for failing to comply with a federal election law that extends voter registration opportunities to low-income citizens.
On behalf of the Georgia State Conference of the NAACP, Project Vote partnered with Demos, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil rights Under Law, the ACLU Voting Rights Project, and the law firm of Dechert LLP to send a pre-litigation notice letter to Secretary Kemp, citing evidence that the Georgia Department of Human Services has denied many low-income residents the opportunity to register to vote in violation of the National Voter Registration Act.
The NVRA mandates public assistance agencies that provide services to low-income residents to also offer voter registration services to their clients. However, the state DHS has largely disregarded this law in recent years with voter registration applications submitted through public assistance agencies declining by more than 79 percent between the law’s implementation in 1995 and 2008. Field investigations, as well as reviews of state law and DHS policy further confirm the violations of the NVRA.
While we are eager to work with state officials to bring the state into compliance, the notice letter is the first step towards bringing litigation. We have found success with this approach in other states, including Missouri and Ohio. Each state has since helped register hundreds of thousands of low-income residents.
We hope to work with officials to bring the state into compliance with the NVRA to ensure all Georgians have an equal opportunity to register to vote.