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Election Law @ Moritz

Election Law @ Moritz


Litigation

NAACP-SCP v. Cortes

Case Information

Date Filed / Ended: October 23, 2008 / January 28, 2009
State: Pennsylvania
Issue: Voting Technology
Courts that Heard this Case: U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (Case 2:08-cv-05048)

Issue:

Whether polling locations can be required to distribute emergency paper ballots to voters when 50% or more voting machines become inoperable at a specific location.  Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth Pedro Cortes has issued a directive requiring that paper ballots be distributed when 100% of the voting machines at a polling location have failed.  The plaintiffs, concerned about long lines due to malfunctioning voting machines, allege that not providing emergency paper ballots in cases where there is less than 100% voting machine failure would violate the constitutional rights of voters. 

Status:

Complaint and Motion for Preliminary Injunction filed on 10/23/08.  Motion for Preliminary Injunction granted on 10/29/08.  Order granting all defendants an extension of time to move, answer or otherwise respond to the complaint until 1/9/09 entered 12/15/08. Motion for Permanent Injunction filed by NAACP on 1/26/09.  Motion for Permanent Injunction Granted 1/28/09.

District Court Documents

Related Links

Commentary

Justin   Levitt

Arizona: Voter Registration and the Road Ahead

Justin Levitt

 

June arrived with two election law cases at the Supreme Court. One is still pending: a highly anticipated decision on section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. The other, more frequently overlooked, was decided yesterday. And there are some quirks of the opinion that seem to depart from the swiftly congealing conventional wisdom that the states might actually have "won," and now need only run out the clock.

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In the News

Michelle  Alexander

Johnson: Disenfranchising felons hits minorities hardest

Professor Michelle Alexander was quoted in an Athens Banner-Herald article from her book "The New Jim Crow." The article focuses on the disenfranchisement of felons in states like Virginia, where more than seven percent of the adult population cannot vote due to felony charges. In Virginia, Gov. Robert McDonnell is taking steps to restore the right to vote to nonviolent felons.

Alexander's book calls on the idea that disenfranchising felons affects minorities most. She calls voting-rights restoration processes a “bureaucratic maze” that is “cumbersome, confusing and onerous.”

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Info & Analysis

Supreme Court: NVRA Pre-empts Arizona's Proof of Citizenship Law

In a 7-2 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that the NVRA preempts an Arizona law requiring documentation of citizenship to accompany voter registration forms. The case is Arizona v. The Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc.

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