July 21, 2011
(New Orleans, LA) – 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.
The court’s ruling means that public assistance clients and the
Louisiana State Conference of the NAACP can proceed with a lawsuit
claiming that the Louisiana Secretary of State, the Department of
Children and Family Services, and the Department of Health &
Hospitals are disenfranchising minority and low-income voters by failing
to offer them the opportunity to register to vote as required by the
federal National Voter Registration Act (NVRA).
“The State must be held accountable for its continuing violations of
federal law, so that all Louisiana citizens have an opportunity to
vote,” said Dale Ho, Assistant Counsel with the NAACP Legal Defense
Fund, which is representing the plaintiffs along with Project Vote, a
Washington D.C.-based voting rights organization, and New Orleans
attorney Ronald Wilson.
The NVRA requires public assistance agencies, such as food stamps and
Medicaid offices, to offer their clients the opportunity to register to
vote with every application for benefits, renewal, recertification, or
change of address transaction. The plaintiffs’ complaint cites evidence
showing that Louisiana agencies are failing to carry out their
responsibilities under this law.
The State of Louisiana had argued in a brief to the court that the
NAACP had no legal right to bring this lawsuit. But U.S. District Court
Judge Lance Africk sided squarely with the plaintiffs on that point,
giving the suit the green light in a 14-page order, stating that 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]he NAACP has
demonstrated that it satisfies the injury requirement and that it has
standing to sue.”
Nicole Zeitler of Project Vote, which also represents the plaintiffs,
agreed with the judge’s reasoning. “The Court’s ruling affirms what
plaintiffs have maintained throughout this litigation: that this lawsuit
has demonstrated clear violations of federal law, and that the NAACP is
a proper party to bring this lawsuit as one of the organizations that
has had to pick up the burden of voter registration.”
A similar lawsuit was filed last week against Louisiana by the United
States Department of Justice. Ronald Wilson, who is also representing
the plaintiffs, said, “given the widespread non-compliance that we’ve
observed, it came as little surprise that the Justice Department would
also determine that the State is out of compliance with federal law.”
Successful lawsuits brought by voting rights groups in other states,
such as Missouri and Ohio, have resulted in dramatic increases in public
agency registrations.
Mr. Ho concluded, “today’s ruling means that our lawsuit will
proceed. We intend to ensure that all Louisiana citizens are provided
with the opportunity to register to vote in accordance with federal
law.”
Click here to read the court’s decision.