Your weekly source for analysis and insight from experts at the Brennan Center for Justice

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The Briefing

We got exciting news on Sunday night before the Memorial Day holiday. A federal judge struck down

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much of the Florida law that denied the vote to people with past felony convictions unless they pay all court fees and costs. The path is cleared for hundreds of thousands to vote in time for the November election.

In 2018, Florida voters overwhelmingly backed Amendment 4, which ended the state’s notorious felony disenfranchisement system — a direct remnant of Jim Crow. The measure restored voting rights to over 1 million citizens. The next year Gov. Ron DeSantis signed S.B. 7066 to gut the measure. Among other things, would-be voters found it nearly impossible to find out whether they were eligible. The Brennan Center and others sued. One of our clients, Clifford Tyson, is a 63-year-old minister unable to pay the fees and unsure of his eligibility. We represented him and others in a two week trial recently conducted by video.

In his decision, U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle wrote that the law created an unconstitutional hurdle to voting that discriminated against people on the basis of wealth, violating the 14th Amendment. The “pay to vote” system, he ruled, also violated the 24th Amendment, which bars requiring payment of a poll tax or any other kind of tax before voting. “The requirement to pay fees and costs as a condition of voting is unconstitutional because they are, in substance, taxes,” he wrote. As Brennan Center Senior Counsel Sean Morales-Doyle said, Judge Hinkle’s ruling was “a historic win for voting rights” at a time when we need it most.

Democracy

How Many Lies Can Fit in 280 Characters?

President Trump continues his bizarre vendetta against vote by mail, even as states are moving to make it possible to vote safely in a pandemic. Consider one extraordinary tweet where the president piled lie on top of lie regarding Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s wise move to send ballot applications to her state’s voters.

“The president managed, with extraordinary economy, to cram numerous inaccuracies, falsehoods, threats, and hypocrisies into fewer than 280 characters,” writes Max Feldman. “He is the Hemingway of election lies.” // Read More

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Why Online Voting Isn’t the Answer During Covid-19

How to run elections during a pandemic? Companies selling online voting systems promise an easy solution: a new technology that will allow people to vote from their homes securely. “There couldn’t be a worse time to try to add risky, unproven technology like internet voting into our elections, particularly when we know that hostile actors have not given up on disrupting our democracy,” write Lawrence Norden and tech adviser Frank Reyes. // Read More

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How to Legislate During a Crisis

Covid-19 has stripped the gears of government at every level. Some legislative bodies have moved toward holding regular virtual sessions, while others have adjourned, postponed, or suspended their sessions entirely. Some even continue to meet in person under potentially unsafe conditions.

In a new paper, Maintaining Legislative Continuity Through Emergencies, the Brennan Center describes why it is critical that legislatures continue to operate during emergencies and outlines the major considerations for any contingency plan. In a Q&A, Tim Lau spoke with one of the paper’s authors, Daniel Weiner. “You need the essential organs of government to function, even when social distancing is necessary,” says Weiner. // Read More

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Voter Purges in an Increasingly Vote-by-Mail World

All too often, voter purges are erroneous and go wrong. Eligible voters are removed from the rolls, with no clue this happened until they show up to the polls to vote. The move to expand vote by mail could heighten risks posed by bad purges. How?

It turns out that, so far, in vote-by-mail systems citizens wrongly purged from the rolls have less opportunity to catch the error and cast their ballots. “Election administrators should focus on reducing erroneous purges, adapting in-person protections for purged voters to mail ballot systems, and ensuring that eligible purged voters can still cast a ballot that counts at the polls,” write Myrna Pérez and Eliza Sweren-Becker. // Read More

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Retired Judges Ask Federal Court to Halt Courthouse ICE Arrests

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials continue to insist they have the authority to show up at state and local courts to make arrests. The practice has created an atmosphere of fear, leaving undocumented immigrants reluctant to come to court to protect themselves or vindicate their rights.

On Thursday in federal appeals court 19 retired Massachusetts judges represented by the Brennan Center, filed a friend-of-the-court brief explaining that in a fair and equitable justice system, immigration officials cannot deter access to the courts. “As long as ICE continues to make courthouse arrests,” writes Douglas Keith, “the courts themselves are well-positioned to affirm long-standing guarantees of equal access to justice.” // Read More

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News

Ángel Díaz on privacy issues raised by contact tracing // CoinDesk

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Douglas Keith on the shortcomings of remote court hearings // Providence Journal

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Michael Li on Missouri’s push to count only eligible voters for redistricting purposes // NPR

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Raul Macías on safe in-person voting in California // Mercury News

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Thomas Wolf on the census’s shifting timeline // Money

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Have an issue you'd like us to cover? Feedback on this newsletter? Email us at [email protected]

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The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law is a nonpartisan law and policy institute that works to reform, revitalize – and when necessary defend – our country’s systems of democracy and justice.

Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law

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