John Lyon, SOUTHWEST TIMES RECORD
LITTLE ROCK — A coalition of groups that advocate for voters’ rights is alleging that public assistance agencies in Arkansas are failing to provide voter-registration services as required under the National Voter Registration Act.
Voting rights groups Demos, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the NAACP, Project Vote, and the Proskauer Rose law firm sent a letter Wednesday to Secretary of State Mark Martin advising him that Arkansas agencies must comply with the law or face litigation.
The groups offered to work cooperatively with Martin and other state officials to achieve compliance.
Laura Lebay, a spokeswoman for the secretary of state’s office, said Wednesday, “We have received that letter, so we are reviewing it.”
The Voter Registration Act is commonly known as the “Motor Voter” law because of its requirement that motor vehicle departments provide voter registration services. The groups said the law also requires public assistance agencies, such as those providing services under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Medicaid, to offer voter registration services to their clients with every application for benefits, re-certification, or change of address.
The groups previously complained to state officials about what they said were violations of the Voter Registration Act in 2012. According to the letter sent Wednesday, the state Department of Human Services responded with policy changes, but the groups said recent field investigations and records requests show that many public assistance clients are still not being provided the voter registration services required by law.
“It is clear that Arkansas continues to violate the NVRA, which means that thousands of low-income residents are being denied their federally guaranteed opportunity to register to vote,” Sarah Brannon, director of the Public Agency Voter Registration Project at Project Vote, stated in a news release. READ MORE