A lawsuit on whether Louisiana is providing its low-income citizens a meaningful opportunity to register to vote was heard last week before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Louisiana.
Brentin Mock at Facing South has more on the story:
Also known as the “Motor Voter Act,” the NVRA mandates that all state-run public benefits agencies — offices that administer food assistance, welfare and health insurance for the poor — must offer voter registration materials and services to applicants. Louisiana claims that state agencies need to offer this only when people show up in person to apply for benefits but not when they apply by mail, phone or the internet.
Lawyers for NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) and Project Vote have a different interpretation of the law.
“The vast majority of Louisiana’s public assistance clients never step foot in a state office,” LDF assistant counsel Dale Ho said in a statement last year. “Louisiana’s refusal to enforce the NVRA risks denying tens of thousands of our poorest citizens a clear path to voter registration.”
Photo by Project Vote