State
Agencies Failed to Register Minority and Low-Income Voters under National Voter
Registration Act
(New Orleans, LA)
–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).
“By failing to
comply with the National Voter Registration Act, Louisiana is denying minority
and low-income voters across the state equal access to the ballot box,” said
Dale Ho, Assistant Counsel with LDF’s Political Participation Group.
The NVRA requires
public assistance agencies that provide services to low-income residents to
offer their clients the opportunity to register to vote with every application
for benefits, renewal, recertification, or change of address transaction. The
complaint cites evidence showing that Louisiana agencies are failing to carry
out their responsibilities under this law.
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.
“Registration at
public assistance agencies is important for reaching populations that are less
likely to register through other means, including low-income residents,
minorities, and persons with disabilities,” says Nicole Zeitler, director of
the Public Agency Voter Registration Project at Project Vote. “By ignoring this
vital law, Louisiana is denying this right to thousands of its residents every
year.”
“Of course, we
would have preferred to resolve this matter absent the need for
litigation,” said New Orleans attorney Ronald Wilson. However, continued Wilson, “the
State’s refusal to make the changes required to bring it into compliance with
federal law, left us with no other alternative.”
In recent years,
similar lawsuits in other states have resulted in tremendous increases in voter
registration numbers. For example, the number of clients registering through
public assistance agencies in Missouri and Ohio has increased more than tenfold
following settlement of NVRA lawsuits in those states.
Media Contacts:
Nicole Zeitler, Project Vote, 202.271.5101, or
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