Scott v. Schedler (formerly Ferrand v. Schedler) is a lawsuit brought by Project Vote, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Inc. (LDF), and New Orleans attorney Ronald Wilson against Louisiana Secretary of State Tom Schedler, the Secretary of the Departments of Children and Family Services, and the Secretary of the Department of Health and Hospitals, for failing to provide voter registration services at public assistance agencies as required by Section 7 of the National Voter Registration Act. The complaint was filed on behalf of the Louisiana State Conference of the NAACP and Louisiana residents Roy Ferrand and Luther Scott, Jr.
The complaint, filed on April 19, 2011, cites substantial evidence demonstrating that Louisiana is failing to provide mandatory voter registration services at its public assistance offices as required by the NVRA. Despite consistently high numbers of participants in Louisiana’s food stamp and Medicaid programs, voter registration applications originating from public assistance agencies have been surprisingly low. As of 2008, voter registration applications originating in these agencies had dropped 88 percent from 1995, despite increased participation in public assistance programs. The complaint also cites the results of agency investigations and interviews of public assistance recipients showing widespread non-compliance.
On July 21, 2011, a federal court rejected the state’s effort to dismiss the lawsuit, stating that the NAACP successfully argued that it had expended resources “on additional voter registration initiatives” because of the “defendants’ failure to comply with the NVRA,” and that therefore, “[t]the NAACP has demonstrated that it satisfies the injury requirement that it has standing to sue.”
On May 3, 2012, a federal judge ruled in favor of the Louisiana State Conference of the NAACP that the NVRA requires that all public assistance clients must be provided with a voter registration application whether they seek benefits in person or by the internet, telephone and mail.
On January 23, 2013, the same federal judge entered a final judgment in favor of the plaintiffs. The court ruled that the Secretary of State, the Department of Children and Family Services, and the Department of Health and Hospitals had been systematically violating the NVRA.
Among other things, the court found that the public agencies were violating the NVRA by using application forms that did not offer voter registration or did not contain the language required by the NVRA; requiring clients to affirmatively request voter registration (opt-in) before distributing registration applications; failing to check voter registration applications and failing follow-up with clients if applications were incomplete; and permitting employees to tell clients that they could register to vote through the Secretary of State’s website, rather than actually distributing voter registration applications.
With regard to the Secretary of State, the Court ruled that the Secretary provided inconsistent and inaccurate trainings and failed to ensure that public assistance offices were complying with their responsibilities under the NVRA. The court also reaffirmed the plaintiffs’ standing, and entered a permanent injunction requiring the defendants to comply with the NVRA.
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What Kind of Year Has It Been for Election Laws?
With Americans heading to the polls in just four weeks, a new report from voting rights group Project Vote shows that many beneficial election reforms were proposed in 2014, but few voters will find it easier to cast a ballot on November 4. Read more
Nearly 30,000 Low-Income Louisianans Apply to Register to Vote
A dramatic increase in voter registration applications from public assistance agencies is the result of a successful lawsuit brought by voting rights groups to bring the state into compliance with the NVRA. Read more
Federal Court Rules That Louisiana Systemically Violated the NVRA
On January 23, voting rights advocates won a major legal victory on behalf of Louisiana’s public assistance agency clients, the state’s most vulnerable and most marginalized residents. Read more
Federal Judge Rules that Louisiana Must Offer Voter Registration to Public Agency Clients
Yesterday, voting rights advocates won an important legal victory that will ensure that Louisiana’s public assistance agency clients—the state’s poorest and most marginalized residents—will be offered an opportunity to register to vote. Read more
Federal Judge Rules that Lawsuit against the State of Louisiana Over Failure to Offer Voter Registration Services May Continue
Today, a federal court rejected the State of Louisiana's effort to dismiss a lawsuit regarding the State’s failure to offer public assistance recipients the opportunity to register vote. Read more
Rights Groups Sue Louisiana over Voting Rights Violations
Yesterday, Project Vote, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Inc. (LDF), and New Orleans attorney Ronald Wilson filed a complaint in federal court on behalf of the state conference of the NAACP and several private individuals, alleging that Louisiana is disenfranchising minority and low-income voters by failing to offer them the opportunity to register to vote as required by the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). Read more
Louisiana Defaulting on Federal Obligation to Register Low-Income Residents
Citing clear evidence that numerous low-income Louisiana residents have been denied the opportunity to register to vote, attorneys from Project Vote, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), and New Orleans attorney Ronald Wilson, have sent officials a pre-litigation notice letter regarding the state’s non-compliance with the federal requirements of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA). Read more