Daily Docket — Thursday, April 27

Alaska’s Supreme Court Prohibited Partisan Gerrymandering. These States Have Too [link removed]

Here are two major court updates from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Today, the 11th Circuit upheld most of Florida’s 2021 voter suppression law Senate Bill 90, reversing a lower court's decision that struck down parts of the law for discriminating against Black voters in violation of the U.S. Constitution and Voting Rights Act. [link removed]

Yesterday, the 11th Circuit rejected a challenge to Alabama’s felony disenfranchisement law, ruling that a 1996 amendment to the 1901 state constitution purged the original provision of any discriminatory intent. The court also rejected the plaintiffs’ argument that the lack of specificity about disqualifying offenses on a voter registration form violated the National Voter Registration Act. [link removed]

Here are some legislative updates from the last few days.

The Minnesota Legislature passed the Democracy for the People Act, which would allow 16- and 17-year-olds to pre-register to vote, establish automatic voter registration at many state agencies and more. The pro-voting bill now heads to Gov. Tim Walz (D), who has promised to sign it into law. [link removed]

The Kansas Senate failed to override Gov. Laura Kelly's (D) veto of a bill that would have shortened the deadline to return mail-in ballots by three days. Kansas' grace period for returned mail-in ballots remains in place. [link removed]

Here’s what to expect coming up.

The latest episode of our Defending Democracy podcast, “Republicans Don’t Want Students to Vote,” drops tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. EDT — get ready! Listen on Apple, Spotify or any other platform.
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Also tomorrow, a lawsuit challenging a Texas voter suppression law will be distributed for conference in the U.S. Supreme Court. That just means that the nine Supreme Court justices have a private meeting where they will decide whether to grant cert (accept an appeal). A South Carolina redistricting lawsuit is also distributed for conference, but due to the nature of the case, the Court is required to issue a ruling.
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Can’t get enough news? You can always find more details about these updates on our News page. [link removed]

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