Project Vote
and NAACP Legal Defense Fund Put Secretary of
State Tom Schedler on Notice of Voting Rights Violations
January 12, 2011
BATON ROUGE, LA – 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
issued official notice to Secretary of State Tom Schedler, the state’s
Department of Children & Family Services, and its Department of Health
& Hospitals regarding the state’s non-compliance with the federal
requirements of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA).
The notification letter, sent today on
behalf of the Louisiana State Conference of the NAACP,
calls on Schedler and the agencies to take corrective action necessary to bring
Louisiana into compliance with federal law. The NVRA requires public assistance
agencies that provide services to low-income residents, to offer voter
registration services to their clients. The letter cites evidence showing that agencies around the state are failing to
fully carry forth their responsibilities under the law.
“The National Voter Registration Act
was designed to ensure that all citizens have access to our democracy,” said
Dale Ho, Assistant Counsel with LDF’s Political Participation Group. “By
defaulting on its obligations under the law, Louisiana is denying substantial
numbers of eligible low-income and minority voters equal access to the ballot
box,” said Ho.
The evidence
cited includes Election
Assistance Commission reports, which show that registrations originating from Louisiana public assistance offices have plummeted 88 percent since
the law was first implemented: from nearly 75,000 in 1995-1996, to a mere 8,688
in 2007-2008.
“It is
clear that Louisiana is violating the NVRA, and
neglecting tens of thousands of low-income residents as a result,” said
Nicole Zeitler, Director of the Public Agency Voter Registration Project at
Project Vote.
Recent
surveys of agency offices confirm that the state is defaulting on its federally
required obligations. Agencies are required to offer the opportunity to
register to vote along with every application for benefits, recertification, or
change of address transaction. However, numerous individuals reported that they
had not been offered the opportunity to register to vote while receiving
services from the agencies. The surveys also revealed that agency staff and personnel
at many offices around the state were wholly unfamiliar with their obligations
under the NVRA, and a number of the offices failed to make voter registration
application forms available altogether.
“The
agency can’t comply with a law requiring distribution of voter registration
applications if they don’t even have the forms on hand,” said Zeitler.
In the past several years, lawsuits
filed by Project Vote and other groups have forced other states that had been
disregarding the NVRA to comply, with dramatic results. For example,
applications from Missouri public assistance agencies skyrocketed, from fewer
than 8,000 a year to over 130,000 a year, following settlement of a suit in
that state in 2008. More than 200,000 low-income Ohioans have applied to
register since a similar case was settled there in the end of 2009.
The letter’s signatories are eager to
work with state officials to bring the state into compliance with the NVRA to
ensure that all Louisianans have an equal opportunity to register to vote.
CONTACTS:
Nicole
Zeitler, Project Vote, 202.271.5101
Mel Gagarin, NAACP LDF, 212-965-2783
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Project
Vote is a national nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that promotes voting in
historically underrepresented communities. Project Vote takes a leadership role
in nationwide voting rights and election administration issues, working through
research, legal services, and advocacy to ensure that our constituencies are not
prevented from registering and voting.
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. is America’s
premier legal organization fighting for racial justice. Through litigation,
advocacy, and public education, LDF seeks structural changes to expand democracy,
eliminate disparities, and achieve racial justice in a society that fulfills
the promise of equality for all Americans. LDF also defends the gains and
protections won over the past 70 years of civil rights struggle and works to
improve the quality and diversity of judicial and executive appointments.