Direct democracy reigns supreme in Ohio.

[link removed]
11/10/2023

Across the country, voters headed to the polls for races big and small. Every pro-democracy candidate who won on Tuesday — even at the county board of elections level — will play a critical role next year.

A new slate of lawsuits fighting to improve access to the ballot box are using little-known sections of the Voting Rights Act and there’s a well-deserved redistricting in North Dakota to be celebrated.

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Election Day ‘23: More Than a Threshold Crossed en Route to ‘24
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Across the board, Tuesday ended up being an incredible day for democracy. Despite Republicans throwing ** every possible hurdle ([link removed])
at direct democracy, Ohio voters overwhelmingly ** approved ([link removed])
a measure to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution despite Republicans enacting a new sweeping photo ID law, attempting to raise the threshold for the measure to pass and more. ** Read Democracy Docket contributor Katy Shanahan’s recap on Ohio Republicans’ efforts to obstruct the measure here. ([link removed])

Next door in Pennsylvania, Democratic candidate Judge Daniel McCaffrey ** won ([link removed])
the race for state Supreme Court. Democrats now have a 5-2 majority on the court and a ** reinforced pro-democratic bench ([link removed])
heading into what is sure to be a highly litigious year for the battleground state — in 2022, Pennsylvania saw the ** second most ([link removed])
democracy-related lawsuits. ** Learn more about the race’s impact and other critical Keystone State victories here. ([link removed])

In Virginia, Democrats ** won ([link removed])
control of the state legislature after keeping a majority in the Senate and taking the House. This is a massive victory for voting rights, abortion rights and more as the legislature can limit Gov. Glenn Youngkin's (R) anti-democratic agenda.

Meanwhile, Shasta County, California ** abandoned ([link removed])
its plans to hand count ballots, citing high turnout. The Republican county complied with state law and electronically tabulated ballots following warnings from the secretary of state.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) ** monitored ([link removed])
elections in several counties in New Jersey, Rhode Island, Mississippi and Virginia to ensure compliance with the Voting Rights Act (VRA) and other federal voting laws.
* Specifically, the DOJ monitored an election in Union County, New Jersey as a result of an ** agreement ([link removed])
reached earlier this year in a ** lawsuit ([link removed])
over the state’s failure to provide adequate assistance, information and election materials to Spanish-speaking voters.
* The DOJ also ** asked ([link removed])
four Texas counties to alter their election websites to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act after determining that their current sites are not accessible for people with vision and manual disabilities.

Will Hindsight Be 20/24 in Hinds County, Mississippi?

Down in Mississippi, however, at least nine polling locations in the state’s most populous county — Hinds County — ** ran out ([link removed])
of ballots multiple times throughout the day on Tuesday. The fight to extend polling hours became a jumble of legal filings and contradicting orders all as voters waited in line — or ** left entirely ([link removed])
due to the lack of ballots.

The Mississippi Democratic Party (MDP) as well as voting rights groups Mississippi Votes and Mississippi Center for Justice requested poll hour extensions at the affected locations, though conflicting court orders and an appeal of one order by the state’s Republican Party created confusion for voters and officials alike.
* Mississippi has ** no early voting ([link removed])
opportunities and a ** narrow set ([link removed])
of qualifications for those seeking to vote absentee, meaning that the vast majority of ballots are cast on Election Day. This inaccessibility contributes to the state’s notoriously dismal voter turnout: In this year’s primary election, only 30% of those registered to vote ** turned out ([link removed])
, the lowest rate since 2007.
* On Tuesday, amid a ** competitive gubernatorial race ([link removed])
between Gov. Tate Reeves (R) and Democratic nominee Brandon Presley, turnout across the state was ** higher than anticipated ([link removed])
— at least 41% of active voters ** cast ([link removed])
a ballot in the governor’s race.

Regardless of yesterday’s root cause, Mississippi has an ** egregious voting rights record ([link removed])
and boasts the ** highest leve ([link removed])
l of felony disenfranchisement in the country. A Jim Crow-era constitutional provision ** enable ([link removed])
s Mississippi ** to disenfranchise ([link removed])
more than 10% of its total voting-age population and its disenfranchisement of Black voters exceeds 15%.
* In Hinds County, specifically, the Republican-led Legislature has taken aim at Jackson — and its over 80% Black population — by ** creating ([link removed])
a new court system with an unelected judge in a portion of Jackson and ** expanding ([link removed])
the Capitol Police force’s jurisdiction, which is run by the state, to cover the entire city rather than just a handful of government buildings. Although litigation over one of the laws is now ** resolved ([link removed])
in state court, a separate ** lawsuit ([link removed])
in federal court challenging multiple aspects of both laws — including the new court within Jackson — is ongoing.

Simply, as Paloma Wu, a Mississippi Center for Justice attorney ** explained ([link removed])
, “If you can’t vote, that’s a problem for democracy” and if this week’s turnout was an issue for election officials, serious solutions will be necessary for 2024.
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Like a Good Soup, News Lawsuits Are Utilizing Every Bit (of the VRA)

Almost 60 years ago, President Lyndon B. Johnson ** signed ([link removed])
one of the most important pieces of civil rights legislation, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA), into law.

Over the past few months, pro-voting forces have brought a series of lawsuits under lesser-known and rarely litigated provisions of the VRA that seek to combat some of the more “subtle” — but nevertheless pernicious — voting laws that disenfranchise citizens across the country.

In Wisconsin, a new ** lawsuit ([link removed])
challenges the state’s absentee ballot witness requirement under ** Section 201 ([link removed](title:52%20section:10501%20edition:prelim)%20OR%20(granuleid:USC-prelim-title52-section10501)&f=treesort#=0&edition=prelim)
of the VRA, which prohibits denying the right to vote on the basis of a citizen’s failure to comply with a “test or device.” Section 201 defines an unlawful “test or device” as any requirement that a voter must satisfy as a prerequisite for voting.
* These illegal prerequisites include: passing a literacy test, demonstrating educational achievement in a particular subject, possessing “good moral character” or proving one’s qualifications by “the voucher of registered voters or members of any other class.”
* Relying on the last category, the plaintiffs contend that Wisconsin’s witness requirement is tantamount to a voucher requirement that Section 201 forbids since it conditions one’s ability to cast an absentee ballot — and have it counted — on the presence of a witness who must vouch for a voter’s qualifications.

Lawsuits in North Carolina and Washington challenge residency requirements for voting by relying on ** Section 202(c) ([link removed])
of the VRA, which is aimed at protecting the right to vote in presidential elections and ensuring that voters could enjoy “free movement” across state lines.
* The Section 202(c) lawsuits also bring claims under the First and 14th Amendments, alleging that the durational residency requirements unconstitutionally burden the fundamental right to vote without a compelling justification.

A Georgia lawsuit seeks to extend the time period in which voters can request an absentee ballot using ** Section 202(d) ([link removed])
of the VRA, which stipulates that states are required to allow all qualified voters who will be outside of their election district on Election Day to cast an absentee ballot in a presidential election so long as they applied at least seven days before the election.
* Georgia previously comported with this federally mandated deadline up until 2021 when it enacted an omnibus voter suppression law, ** Senate Bill 202 ([link removed])
, in response to record high turnout in the 2020 general election.

With all of these new lawsuits still in their infancy, it remains to be seen whether courts will embrace pro-voting efforts to utilize the full breadth of the VRA’s protections. Given that many other states impose absentee ballot ** witness rules ([link removed])
, ** durational residency requirements ([link removed])
and premature ** absentee ballot application deadlines ([link removed])
, favorable rulings in these lawsuits could have reverberating implications for large swaths of voters across the country.
** ([link removed])

** Using Lesser Known Portions of the VRA, New Lawsuits Aim To Protect Voters ([link removed])

By Rachel Selzer

Trials and Tribulations

This week, trial ** began ([link removed])
in a federal lawsuit challenging two Arizona laws with strict proof of citizenship requirements for voter registration, House Bills ** 2492 ([link removed])
and ** 2243 ([link removed])
. These laws put thousands of eligible voters’ registrations at risk. ** Read more about the impact of the critical 12-day trial here. ([link removed])

As one voting rights trial begins, another ends. On Tuesday, trial ** ended ([link removed])
in a lawsuit brought by the voting rights group Fair Fight arguing that the Texas-based right-wing group True the Vote illegally intimidated Georgia voters just before the 2021 U.S. Senate runoffs.
* In November 2020, Georgia ** handed ([link removed])
Joe Biden the presidency and paved the way for two Democratic candidates to become the next U.S. senators from the Peach State and give Democrats control of the U.S. Senate. The only thing that stood in the way was a runoff election. With all eyes on Georgia, True The Vote launched the largest voter challenge effort in the state’s history targeting the eligibility of more than ** 364,000 Georgians ([link removed])
— many of whom were Black, brown or first-time voters.
* A decision is now ** pending ([link removed])
in this case.

** ([link removed])

** True the Vote Voter Intimidation Case Goes to Trial in Georgia ([link removed])

By Madeleine Greenberg

Subdistricts Needed to Not Subvert Native American Representation

In North Dakota, a federal court ** rejected ([link removed])
a lawsuit brought by ** local Republican Party officials ([link removed])
alleging that some of the state’s legislative districts were unconstitutionally drawn using race as the predominant factor. The Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara (MHA) Nations and other individuals had ** intervened ([link removed])
in the lawsuit to defend the subdistricts.

With the rejection, the court upheld four new subdistricts that were created to give Native American voters an equal opportunity to elect their candidates of choice.

In last Thursday’s ** court order ([link removed])
, the three-judge panel — consisting of one George W. Bush appointee and two Trump appointees — ruled in favor of the state and the tribal intervenors and against the Republican plaintiffs: “We agree with the State and the MHA Tribe” that “there was much evidence before the Legislative Assembly that the subdistricts were needed to satisfy the [Voting Rights Act] and avoid voter dilution claims.”
* A separate ongoing federal lawsuit brought by Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, Spirit Lake Tribe and individual Native American voters ** alleges ([link removed])
that some of the state House districts violate the VRA by diluting Native voting power. A trial was held earlier this year and a decision is pending in this case.

** ([link removed])

** Minnesota Supreme Court Allows Trump To Appear on Presidential Primary Ballot ([link removed])

By Ashley Cleaves

More News
* The U.S. Department of Justice ** joined ([link removed])
a lawsuit over Georgia's redistricting maps to protect Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). State Republicans are arguing that the critical provision — which prohibits racial discrimination in voting — is unconstitutional.
* A judge ** dismissed ([link removed])
lawsuits challenging a New Hampshire law that added new ID requirements for voters who register for the first time on Election Day. Voting rights groups argued the law burdens the right to vote and violates the state constitution.
* In Oregon, Republican lawmakers ** filed ([link removed])
a federal lawsuit challenging a voter-approved constitutional amendment that makes them ineligible to run for reelection due to unexcused absences from the state legislature. The absences came from walkouts Republicans staged to protest Democratic bills.
* In the wake of a multimedia pressure campaign launched by an election denier-run group, Speaker of the Wisconsin Assembly Robin Vos (R) ** advanced ([link removed])
an impeachment resolution for the state’s top elections official, Meagan Wolfe.
* Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost (R) ** accepted ([link removed])
new language for a ballot initiative to establish an independent redistricting commission in the state. The group behind the proposal had to resubmit language due to a single typo.
* Senate Democrats ** confirmed ([link removed])
President Joe Biden’s 150th federal judge, 100 of whom are women and people of color.

OPINION: A Quarter of Federal Courts Have Only Ever Had White Judges
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By Rakim Brooks, a public interest appellate lawyer and the president of Alliance for Justice. As a contributor to Democracy Docket, Brooks writes about issues relating to our state and federal courts as well as reforms to our judicial systems. ** Read more ([link removed])
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To claim, simply add both to your cart and use the code
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