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When Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson was attacked by President Trump for announcing the state would send absentee ballot applications to all registered voters, she responded that she was following the example of the Republican secretaries of state in Georgia, Iowa, Nebraska and West Virginia.
Kentucky's Republican secretary of state, Michael Adams, similarly wants to encourage absentee voting this year. He told NPR that his “biggest challenge” has been trying to convince his fellow Republicans (who are influenced by President Trump’s tweets) that it’s not toxic.
Where does this all leave Campaign Legal Center? It leaves us committed to the values we’ve espoused as an organization since our founding 18 years ago.
Our mission statement is this: “The nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center advances democracy through law at the federal, state and local levels, fighting for every American’s rights to responsive government and a fair opportunity to participate in and affect the democratic process.”
We deliberately chose to begin our mission statement with “nonpartisan.” Simply put: our commitment is to democracy and the voices of all Americans, not to political parties or electoral results.
Democracy, at its heart, represents the voices of all Americans. As such, we believe democracy needs honest brokers, and we aspire to be one. This is a core value and strength of ours, and we’ve walked the walk. For the past 18 years, we’ve held candidates and officeholders on both sides of the aisle accountable. We will continue to do so.
This election year was already going to be hectic before COVID-19 arrived. We are now pursuing litigation across the country, working to protect the right to vote during a global pandemic.
Our goal this year (same as it’s always been) is to protect and strengthen the rights of voters, wherever we can best make a difference.
This leads us to Minnesota, where we filed a lawsuit just last week challenging the state’s “witness requirement" for absentee ballots. In Minnesota, absentee voters must fill out their ballot in the physical presence of a witness who needs to sign a witness certificate. Only a registered Minnesota voter, a notary or another person authorized to administer oaths may play this witness role. This policy is simply inconsistent with the requirements of social distancing; it’s untenable this year. It’s unacceptable for any state.
The remedy we’re seeking in Minnesota is important, too, in that it’s indicative of our long-term vision and strategy at Campaign Legal Center. We’re seeking a suspension of Minnesota’s witness requirement in the short term, but also a permanent easing of restrictions on who can serve as a ballot witness in the long term.
Why does this matter? Because those witness restrictions are making it harder to vote, and this can result in less people having their voices heard in politics. They especially threaten the voting rights of Minnesota college students, who often attend college out-of-state and can’t sign their ballot in the presence of a registered Minnesota voter.
Democracy works best when every citizen can participate without barriers. To this end, we’ve pursued litigation in several other states to protect democratic participation this year.
Here are a few examples:
- In Florida, we just achieved a landmark victory in a historic voting rights trial on behalf of Floridians with past felony convictions. Because CLC obtained class certification in this case, this victory impacts the voting rights of hundreds of thousands of people.
- In Arkansas, in response to a lawsuit we filed, a federal court has made it easier for our client, Arkansas Voters First, to gather signatures for a redistricting reform ballot initiative (an uphill battle during a pandemic).
- In Texas, we petitioned the court to join litigation on behalf of LULAC, challenging Texas’s strict limitations on who can vote absentee even during the COVID-19 crisis.
- In Tennessee, we’re challenging the state’s strict limits on eligibility for voting absentee. One of our clients wants to vote absentee in order to avoid exposing his father to COVID-19, but under current law, he cannot.
- In New Jersey, we’re challenging the state’s “signature match” system, which threatens to disenfranchise voters due to their penmanship. One of our clients is a man with Parkinson’s disease, who fears being disenfranchised because his signature is inconsistent.
- And in North Dakota, we’ve achieved a victory for Native Americans, and we’re fighting the state’s “signature match” policy and its onerous barriers to getting redistricting reform before voters.
We go where voters need us. Sometimes this takes us to hotly contested “swing states,” but other times it doesn’t. This has been a fulfilling part of CLC for me; we’re able to help people out where party committees often won’t go or won’t spend the resources.
Democracy is a nonpartisan value—it’s about the voices of all Americans, and I hope voter access litigation this year will reflect that.
Sincerely,
Trevor Potter
President, Campaign Legal Center
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