NVRA Lawsuit Against Ohio Officials
Voting right advocates brought suit today in a Cleveland federal court, challenging Ohio state officials' alleged failure to comply with the requirements of the National Voter Registation Act ("NVRA"). The complaint in Harkless v. Blackwell may be found here, and a press release describing the case is here.

Though commonly referred to as "Motor Voter" because it requires registration to be made available to voters getting a driver's license, the NVRA also requires public assistance agencies to provide voter registration forms. That's not happening, according to the complaint in Harkless, which alleges that Ohio's Department of Job and Family Services (DJFS) and Secretary of State are failing to ensure that registration is made available.

One of the plaintiffs is ACORN, which registers low-income voters, along with two individuals who say they weren't given the chance to register. They claim that there's "widespread noncompliance" at state DJFS offices. Lisa Danetz of NVRI, one of plaintiffs' attorneys, has this blog post on the case which states that:

Ohio's own statistics indicate that over a two-year period all of Ohio's DJFS offices collectively registered less than one-half of one percent of the number of persons applying for or seeking recertification of Food Stamps benefits. In fact, DJFS offices in ten counties did not register a single person from 2002-2004, and another 17 counties registered fewer than ten people.

Under the NVRA, each state is required to designate a chief election official who's responsible for coordination of the state's responsibilities under the law. That person in Ohio is Ken Blackwell, the Secretary of State. According to this AP report, the Secretary of State's spokesman is calling the lawsuit "frivolous."

- posted by Dan Tokaji @ 11:16 PM