Democracy Defended PDF

DEMOCRACY DEFENDED Voters wait in line outside their Philadelphia, Pennsylvania polling place on Election Day 2020. Volunteer photo THURGOOD MARSHALL INSTITUTE | tminstituteldf.org ...

DEMOCRACY DEFENDED Voters wait in line outside their Philadelphia, Pennsylvania polling place on Election Day 2020. Volunteer photo THURGOOD MARSHALL INSTITUTE | tminstituteldf.org  DEMOCRACY DEFENDED TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary * 1 Introduction  24 Voting in the US ­— A Long History of Voter Suppression & Violent Insurrection 26 Our Approach  40 Targeted States  58 Alabama  60 Florida  70 Georgia  80 Louisiana  98 Mississippi  110 South Carolina  118 Texas  126 Kentucky  136 Michigan & Pennsylvania  142 Recommendations  144 Conclusion  151 Published: September 2, 2021 *The Executive Summary was originally previewed on March 6, 2021 (https://www.naacpldf.org/wp-content/uploads/LDF_02102021_Democra- cyDefendedPreview-11.pdf) and has been revised and updated here to reflect the final report. COVER IMAGES: (top) A group of voters lining up outside the 3rd May 1966 polling station, a Sugar Shack small store, in Peachtree, Alabama, after the Voting Rights Act was passed the previous year,. Photo by MPI/Getty Images (bottom) People wait in line to participate in early voting on Octo- An election worker tires to explain to election challengers that the Detroit Department of Elections Central Counting Board Voting at TCF ber 31, 2020 in Greenville, South Carolina. Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images Center is at capacity for challengers, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020 in Detroit, MI. Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images 2 | DEMOCRACY DEFENDED THURGOOD MARSHALL INSTITUTE | tminstituteldf.org  E X EC U T IVE S U MMARY DEMOCRACY DEMOCRACY DEFENDED EXECUTIVE SUMMARY WAS ON THE Democracy was on the ballot in 2020. Voters of While President Trump aggressively pursued his every race, creed, and color turned out in record false narrative that the election had been stolen, numbers despite a life-threatening pandemic, leading members of his Administration were hurricanes in several states, and threats of violence declaring that the election had been secure and at the polls.1 The President of the United States, there was no election fraud of any consequence. Donald Trump, repeatedly told voters that the These Administration officials included the election was rigged and that our elections systems Attorney General and the Department of BALLOT IN were not to be trusted.2 Still, voters engaged Homeland Security’s cybersecurity expert.5 Courts and elected the first female Vice-President of the throughout the land rejected 63 lawsuits that were United States, who is also the first Vice-President mostly based on specious claims of fraud and of African and Asian descent.3 The State of procedural malfeasance.6 Georgia elected its first Black and first Jewish U.S. Senators.4 The news media, politicians, and local We witnessed coordinated efforts to disenfranchise elections officials rushed to laud the elections as millions of voters of color that began months, even smooth running. But they failed to adequately years, before the election. These actions escalated 2020. recognize the Herculean efforts and billions of in ways that were appalling and shocking but not dollars required to ensure the elections were secure new in the course of U.S. history. Election 2020 and to counter widespread efforts to disenfranchise and its aftermath made it obvious that democracy voters of color, the young, and persons with in the United States is teetering on a razor’s edge. disabilities. The efforts to deny the democratic exercise of political power by Black voters took many forms. 1 See, 2020 November General Election Turnout Rates, U.S. Election Proj- ect, http://www.electproject.org/2020g (last updated Dec. 7, 2020). 2 Hayley Miller, Trump Claimed Election ‘Rigged’ Or ‘Stolen’ Over 100 Times Ahead Of Capitol Riot, HuffPost (Feb. 8, 2021), 5 Mary Louise Kelly, Barr Says No Election Fraud Has Been Found https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-rigged-stolen-capitol-ri- By Federal Authorities, NPR (Dec. 1, 2020), https://www.npr. ot_n_602188e2c5b6173dd2f88c4f; For similar earlier assertions, see org/2020/12/01/940819896/barr-says-no-election-fraud-has-been- Nate Cohn & Toni Monkovic, Trump Strategy:Win 3 Key States, and found-by-federal-authorities; Press Release, Joint Statement from Elec- Warn About ‘Rigged’ Election, N.Y. Times (Aug. 3, 2016), https://www. tions Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council & the Election nytimes.com/2016/08/04/upshot/trump-strategy-win-3-key-states-and- Infrastructure Sector Coordinating Executive Committees, Cyberse- warn-about-rigged-election.html?searchResultPosition=2. curity & Infrastructure Sec. Agency (Nov. 12, 2020), https://www.cisa. gov/news/2020/11/12/joint-statement-elections-infrastructure-govern- 3 Lauren Camera, Kamala Harris Makes History as First Female Vice ment-coordinating-council-election. President, U.S. News &World Report (Jan. 20, 2021),.https://www. usnews.com/news/elections/articles/2021-01-20/kamala-harris-be- 6 Amy Sherman & Miriam Valverde, Joe Biden is right that more than 60 comes-first-female-vice-president. of Trump’s election lawsuits lacked merit, PolitiFact, Poynter Instit. (Jan. 8, 2021), https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/jan/08/joe-biden/ 4 Greg Bluestein, Democrats sweep Georgia’s runoffs, flip control of U.S. joe-biden-right-more-60-trumps-election-lawsuits-l/; see also Voting Senate, Atlanta J.-Const. (Jan. 6, 2021), https://www.ajc.com/politics/ Rights Litigation 2020, Court Case Tracker, Brennan Ctr for Just. (July democrats-sweep-georgias-runoffs-flip-control-of-us-senate/CMV- 28, 2020, updated Jul. 8, 2021), https://www.brennancenter.org/our- 2J37IMBBOHAUG2QOO4YP45M/. work/court-cases/voting-rights-litigation-2020. Protesters gather on the second day of pro-Trump events fueled by President Donald Trump’s continued claims of election fraud in an attempt to overturn the results before Congress finalizes them in a joint session of the 117th Congress on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021 in Washington, DC. Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images 4 | DEMOCRACY DEFENDED THURGOOD MARSHALL INSTITUTE | tminstituteldf.org | 1  E X ECU T IVE SU MMARY They included spurious allegations of widespread impeachment but acquittal of the then-President for voter fraud in mostly urban locations with large inciting an insurrection to stop the peaceful transfer Black populations;7 demands for expensive, of power14 (a fundamental tenet of U.S. democracy). unwarranted recounts;8 attempts to decertify thousands of valid ballots cast by people of color;9 As we are publishing this report, we are seeing a requests by a sitting President to “find” the votes to massive effort by lawmakers across the nation to overturn the election results;10 a violent attempted stop people from voting – particularly people of coup at the U.S. Capitol by rioters adorned with color. These efforts are fueled by the false narrative Trump flags, racist symbols, and attire of white of voter fraud. As of May 14, 2021, state legislators supremacist organizations11 (encouraged and egged in 48 states had introduced 389 bills with on by the then-President) in which five people provisions that restrict voting access and at least died;12 147 Republican members of the Congress 22 restrictive bills have already been enacted.15 voting not to certify the election results;13 and the The potential for devastating impact was illustrated on March 25, 2021, when Georgia’s legislature hurriedly passed voter suppression legislation 7 Mark Niquette & Gregory Korte, Trump Challenge to Election Results that Governor Brian Kemp immediately signed Hits Hardest at Black Voters, Bloomberg (Nov. 21, 2020), https://www. into law. This provision places new restrictions on bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-11-21/trump-challenge-to-elec- tion-results-hits-hardest-at-black-voters; Kristine Phillips, ‘Damaging absentee/mail-in voting and drop-box submissions, to our democracy’: Trump election lawsuits targeted areas with large Black, Latino populations, USA Today (Dec. 1, 2020), https://www.usatoday. bars the use of mobile voting vans, allows for com/story/news/politics/2020/12/01/trump-voter-fraud-claims-target- limitless challenges to voter registration and counties-more-black-latino-votes/6391908002/. eligibility, and makes it illegal for organizations 8 Stephen Fowler, Trump Requests Georgia Recount, Meaning 5 Million Votes Will Be Tabulated A 3rd Time, NPR (Nov. 22, 2020), https://www. to provide food and water to individuals npr.org/sections/biden-transition-updates/2020/11/22/937739336/ waiting in line to vote.16 These restrictions will trump-requests-georgia-recount-meaning-5-million-votes-will-be- tabulated-a-3rd-t; Mayra Monroy & Rebecca Klopf, Trump cam- disproportionately disenfranchise voters of color. paign officially requests recount in two Wisconsin counties, WTMJ-TV MILWAUKEE (Nov. 18, 2020), https://www.tmj4.com/news/elec- tion-2020/trump-campaign-officially-requests-recounts-in-two-wis- (right, top) Election challengers demand to enter to observe the absen- consin-counties; Toluse Olorunnipa & Michelle Ye Hee Lee, Trump’s tee ballots counting but were denied after the room reached capacity election fraud falsehoods have cost taxpayers $519 million — and count- during the 2020 general election in Detroit, Michigan on Wednesday, ing, Wash. Post (Feb. 6, 2021), https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli- Nov. 4, 2020. Photo by Salwan Georges/The Washington Post via tics/interactive/2021/cost-trump-election-fraud/. Getty Images (right, bottom) Election workers process a final stretch of absentee ballot counting at the Detroit Department of Elections 9 Niquette & Korte, supra note 7; Phillips, supra note 7. Central Counting Board of Voting absentee ballot counting center at TCF Center, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020 in Detroit, MI. Kent Nishimura / 10 Amy Gardner, ‘I just want to find 11,780 votes’: In extraordinary hour- Los Angeles Times via Getty Images long call, Trump pressures Georgia secretary of state to recalculate the vote in his favor, Wash. Post (Jan. 3, 2021), https://www.washingtonpost.com/ politics/trump-raffensperger-call-georgia-vote/2021/01/03/d45acb92- 4dc4-11eb-bda4-615aaefd0555_story.html. 14 See Impeachment of Donald Trump, 2021, BallotPedia, https://bal- lotpedia.org/Impeachment_of_Donald_Trump,_2021. 11 Lauren Leatherby et al., How a Presidential Rally Turned Into a Capitol Rampage, N.Y. Times (Jan. 12, 2021), https://www.nytimes.com/ 15 State Voting Bills Tracker 2021, Brennan Ctr for Just. (published interactive/2021/01/12/us/capitol-mob-timeline.html. Feb. 24, 2021, last updated May. 28, 2021) https://www.brennancenter. org/our-work/research-reports/state-voting-bills-tracker-2021. 12 Eric Levenson et al., What we know about the 5 deaths in the pro- Trump mob that stormed the Capitol, CNN (Jan. 8, 2021), https://www. 16 Amy Gardner & Amy B Wang, Georgia governor signs into law cnn.com/2021/01/07/us/capitol-mob-deaths/index.html; Cristina sweeping voting bill that curtails the use of drop boxes and imposes Marcos, Second police officer dies by suicide after Capitol attack, Hill (Jan. new ID requirements for mail voting, Wash. Post (Mar. 25, 2021), 27, 2021), https://thehill.com/homenews/house/536189-second-police- https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/georgia-voting-restric- officer-dies-by-suicide-after-capitol-attack. tions/2021/03/25/91009e72-8da1-11eb-9423-04079921c915_story. html; Nick Corasaniti & Reid J. Epstein, Georgia G.O.P. Fires Opening 13 Karen Yourish et al., The 147 Republicans Who Voted to Overturn Elec- Shot in Fight to Limit Voting, N.Y. Times (Mar. 26, 2021), https://www. tion Results, N.Y. Times, (Jan. 7, 2021), https://www.nytimes.com/inter- nytimes.com/2021/03/26/us/politics/voting-rights-laws-georgia.html?- active/2021/01/07/us/elections/electoral-college-biden-objectors.html searchResultPosition=1. 2 | DEMOCRACY DEFENDED THURGOOD MARSHALL INSTITUTE | tminstituteldf.org | 3  obtain preclearance by the Department of Justice E X ECU T IVE SU MMARY before implementing new voting laws. It had been critical to preventing countless voter suppression measures over many decades. In the Shelby County Voting Rights for Black Citizens Sunday” as they marched across the Edmund case, the Supreme Court invalidated the formula Leading the Way to Democracy in the U.S. Pettus Bridge outside Selma, Alabama and who that determined which states would be covered by marched from Selma to Montgomery to demand Section 5, effectively ending preclearance. Securing, advancing, and protecting the right to full voting rights with legal representation provided vote for African Americans, other communities by LDF attorneys.20 The elimination of Section 5 preclearance of color, and women has been a cornerstone resulted in states immediately – indeed within of the fight to build a true democracy in the After the Voting Rights Act was adopted, the hours of the Shelby County decision — imposing With each United States. The NAACP Legal Defense and Department of Justice litigated critical voting previously barred measures to restrict access to Educational Fund (LDF) has been a leader in rights cases such as South Carolina v. Katzenbach the ballot for Black and Latinx voters.25 Since this fight since its founding in 1940 by Thurgood (preclearance provisions of the Act were the Shelby County decision, at least 19 states Marshall. LDF’s defense of democracy includes the successful challenge to whites-only primaries constitutional)21 and Katzenbach v. Morgan (Congress had the power to adopt the language have implemented restrictive voter identification laws and/or shortened early voting periods.26 election cycle since in Smith v. Allwright in 1944.17 That case helped provisions of the Act)22 in the U.S. Supreme Court Polling place closures nationwide also grew, with increase the abysmally low number of Black people to establish and ground the Act with the strong closures in jurisdictions previously subject to registered to vote. Black registration had been imprimatur of the Supreme Court. Over the years, Section 5 showing an alarming tendency to have a driven down to virtually zero by disenfranchising southern state constitutions and violence in LDF also litigated many critical voting rights cases, including the landmark case Thornburg v. Gingles disproportionately negative impact on communities of color.27 These measures and more lead to long 2013, voter suppression response to high levels of Black voter registration (1982 amendments to Section 2 of the Act were lines at the polls, especially in communities of and political participation during and after enforceable),23 to give meaningful interpretations to color, and narrow the opportunities for safe and the application of the Act. easy voting, which are key means by which voter activity has Reconstruction.18 Despite Allwright, however, the number of Black registered voters in the South suppression occurs. remained shockingly low until the passage of In 2013, LDF’s democracy work gained a increased the Voting Rights Act of 1965.19 The Act, which particular urgency after the U.S. Supreme Court With each election cycle since 2013, voter enabled huge advances in Black voter registration, decision in Shelby County v. Holder (Shelby suppression activity has increased dramatically.28 County)24 dealt a devastating blow to the Voting dramatically. was the culmination of the bravery of civil rights protesters in 1965 who were attacked on “Bloody Rights Act. Section 5 of the Act had required those states with long histories of voting discrimination 25 Michael Cooper, After Ruling, States Rush to Enact Voting Laws, — largely the former Confederate states — to N.Y. Times (July 5, 2013), https://nyti.ms/12rWFZb [https://perma. cc/95NQ-8D38]. 17 Smith v. Allwright, Election Judge, et al., 321 U.S. 649 (1944). 26 Naomi Lim, Democrats push to regulate voting rules in 11 states under 18 John Lewis & Archie E. Allen, Black Voter Registration Efforts in the new Voting Rights Act, Wash. Examiner (Feb. 26, 2019), https://www. South, 48 Notre Dame L. Rev. 105, 108–09 (1972), http://scholarship. 20 Tom Wicker, Johnson Urges at Joint Session to Pass Law Insuring washingtonexaminer.com/news/democrats-push-to-regulate-voting- Voter Suppression since law.nd.edu/ndlr/vol48/iss1/6; Bernard Grofman, Lisa Handley, & Negro Vote, N.Y. Times, Mar. 16, 1965, at p. 1, https://static01.nyt.com/ rules-in-11-states-under-new-voting-rights-act. 2013 Shelby County Richard Niemi, Minority Representation and the Quest for Voting Equality images/blogs/learning/pdf/2015/03161965johnsonspeechLN.pdf; (1992); Leon F. Litwack, Been in the Storm So Long:The Aftermath of David J. Garrow, 3. Selma and the Voting Rights Act: Crisis and Denoue- 27 Leadership Conference Educ. Fund, Democracy Diverted: Polling decision Slavery 545–56 (Alfred A. Knopf 1979); Richard H. Pildes, Democracy, ment, in Protest at Selma: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Voting Rights Place Closures and the Right to Vote (2019), http://civilrightsdocs.info/ Anti-Democracy, and the Canon, 17 Const. Comment. 295, 299–301 Act of 1965 78-132 (1978); Christopher Klein, How Selma’s ‘Bloody pdf/reports/Democracy-Diverted.pdf; see also Carrie Levine, Pratheek (2000), https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/concomm/893; see also id at Sunday’ Became a Turning Point in the Civil Rights Movement: The assault Rebala & Matt Vasilogambros, National Data Release Sheds Light on Past 296 n. 3; Landmark: Smith v. Allwright|Political Participation, LDF, on civil rights marchers in Selma, Alabama helped lead to the Voting Rights Polling Place Changes, Ctr for Pub. Integrity (Sept. 29, 2020), https:// https://www.naacpldf.org/case-issue/landmark-smith-v-allwright (last Act, Hist. Channel (Mar. 6, 2015, updated July 18, 2020), https://www. publicintegrity.org/politics/elections/data-release-sheds-light-on-past- visited May 13, 2021). history.com/news/selma-bloody-sunday-attack-civil-rights-movement. polling-place-changes/ 19 See e.g., Richard H. Pildes, The Politics of Race, 108 Harv. L. Rev. 21 South Carolina v. Katzenbach, 383 U.S. 301 (1966). 28 LDF, Democracy Defended: Analysis Of Barriers To Voting In The 2018 1359, 1360, 1360 n. 10 (1995) (a book review of Quiet Revolution in Midterm Elections, https://naacpldf.org/wp-content/uploads/Democra- the South : The Impact of The Voting Rights Act, 1965-1990, (Chandler 22 Katzenbach v. Morgan, 384 U.S. 641 (1966). cy_Defended__9_6_19_final.pdf; Thurgood Marshall Institute|LDF, Davidson & Bernard Grofman, eds., 1994) (“The most dramatic exam- Democracy Diminished: State and Local Threats to Voting Post-Shelby ple of the immediate effectiveness of the Act [came] from Mississippi, 23 Thornburg v. Gingles, 478 U.S. 30 (1986). County, Alabama v. Holder 1 (2016), https://www.naacpldf.org/wp-con- where the Black registration rate soared from 6.7% to 59.4% within tent/uploads/Democracy-Diminished-State-and-Local-Threats-to-Vot- three years of the Act‘s passage.”). 24 Shelby County v. Holder, 570 U.S. 529 (2013). ing-Post-Shelby-County-Alabama-v.-Holder.pdf 4 | DEMOCRACY DEFENDED THURGOOD MARSHALL INSTITUTE | tminstituteldf.org | 5  E X ECU T IVE SU MMARY Far from being measured reactions to discernible role of the federal government (through the problems, recent voter suppression efforts are Department of Justice oversight mechanism) rooted in the worst traditions of the nation and in stopping these dangerous rollbacks of voting are a reprise of earlier days. Throughout our rights and fundamental threats to democracy. history, expansions of political participation by It fell to nonprofit organizations such as LDF and Black citizens have been followed by reactionary thousands of individuals to fill the void. measures designed to negate that hard-won 400+ progress.29 Without the full protection of the Voting Rights Act, the nation has lost the critical IN 2021 ALONE, VOTER SUPPRESSION BILLS HAVE BEEN INTRODUCED IN 49 STATES. SOURCE: BRENNAN CENTER FOR JUSTICE AT THE NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW 29 Ben Jealous & Ryan Haygood, The Battle to Protect the Vote:Voter (top to bottom) Voters waiting in long lines outside Suppression Efforts in Five States and Their Effect on the 2014 Midterm Alabama polling locations on Election Day 2020. Elections, Ctr for Am. Progress, et al. 18 (2014), https://www.naacpldf. Volunteer photos org/wp-content/uploads/The-Battle-to-Protect-the-Vote-1.pdf. 6 | DEMOCRACY DEFENDED THURGOOD MARSHALL INSTITUTE | tminstituteldf.org | 7  E X ECU T IVE SU MMARY LDF’s 2020 Nonpartisan Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Election Engagement Our non-litigation voter protection program — Prepared to Vote (PTV) — is a nonpartisan voter The 2020 elections may have appeared to run education and advocacy program that LDF has smoothly in large part due to the efforts of legions operated since 2008. Historically, PTV has seen of nonprofit organizations, advocates, volunteers, a majority of LDF staff, along with state and law firms, corporations, donors, honest elections local volunteers, operate on-the-ground shortly in officials, and determined voters. At LDF, we advance of elections and on Election Day. They prepared for months to challenge systemic ensured voters had the information to help them barriers to voting that serve to disenfranchise large overcome common barriers to voting, such as numbers of Black voters. We also prepared the how to register, ID requirements, polling place largest voter education and advocacy campaign in locations and times of operation, how to track and our history. cure a ballot, or address a wrongful purge. LDF staff and our PTV volunteers also engaged state This report describes LDF’s Election 2020 and local elections officials to address both generic operations to address voter suppression and and voter-specific actions during elections that protect voters. Our operations had components suppress the vote and disenfranchise voters. with national scope but focused primarily on 10 states — Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, In late 2019, LDF’s Thurgood Marshall Institute Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, launched the Voting Rights Defender (VRD) project South Carolina, and Texas — most of which to significantly augment the PTV program with were subject to Section 5 Voting Rights Act the ability to identify voter suppression efforts oversight before Shelby County. We also engaged year-round and to take prompt, responsive on a more limited basis in Arkansas, District of action to eliminate them. Our goal was to step Columbia, Connecticut, Maryland, Missouri, New in where the significant footprint of the Justice York, North Carolina, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Department’s Section 5 voting rights work had We worked in partnership with many national, disappeared after the Shelby County decision. While state, and local voting rights organizations. we alone could never come close to replacing the Internally, our 2020 election operation required Department of Justice, we believed we could make the joint efforts of LDF’s Litigation, Policy, a difference. We sought out the resources to stand Communications, Development, IT, and Finance up an operation with nine new staff members and departments, as well as the Thurgood Marshall to partner with others to engage in this work. Institute (TMI)—LDF’s multi-disciplinary center for research, public education, and advocacy— As a result of critical partnerships — especially which shepherded non-litigation state advocacy, with the Poor People’s Campaign (PPC), Forward voter education, and election protection work for Justice (FJ), the Election Protection Coalition the 2020 primaries and general election. run by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, More Than a Vote, state and local LDF has monitored elections for decades and is partner organizations, and many others – our a founding member of the Election Protection PTV/VRD 2020 campaign had significant reach. Coalition (1-866-OUR-VOTE) operated by the These efforts greatly increased our number of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Election Day 2020. Volunteer photo 8 | DEMOCRACY DEFENDED THURGOOD MARSHALL INSTITUTE | tminstituteldf.org | 9  volunteer poll monitors to over 1,300 and enabled E X ECU T IVE SU MMARY the recruitment of over 42,500 poll workers. In addition, we had hundreds of law firm volunteers LDF ELECTION ADVOCACY to animate our remote monitoring of voter suppression activity. 1300+ LDF staff worked on integrated state teams with PPC/FJ staff to provide training and remote support for partner organizations and volunteers. We focused on states where LDF litigation and advocacy have successfully opened opportunities VOLUNTEER POLL MONITORS for greater participation for Black voters and other voters of color. In 2020, we also added nonpartisan 42,500 get-out-the-vote campaigns that allowed us to send our nonpartisan voter education materials directly to millions of voters in our target states. We also provided personal protective equipment (PPE) to one million voters. In 2020, the VRD Nonpartisan poll monitors in Hattiesburg, Mississippi for the 2020 general election. Volunteer photo team identified barriers to voting in our core states POLL WORKERS RECRUITED and took action to remove those barriers before the In addition, throughout the 116th Congress, vote.32 Justice Sotomayor described the Supreme election. LDF worked for passage of the Voting Rights Court’s decisions as a “trend of condoning Advancement Act of 2019 (H.R. 4 and S. 561), disenfranchisement.”33 LDF LITIGATION After we learned of the extensive foreign later renamed the John R. Lewis Voting Rights interference in the 2016 elections, particularly We had tremendous success in a legal challenge Advancement Act, which would restore the Voting that aimed at Black voters, LDF’s Policy staff to the attempt at widespread suppression by an NAACP v. USPS Rights Act preclearance formula in accordance worked to ensure that states were able to adopt intentional slowdown at the United States Postal with the Shelby County decision. We also worked and implement ballot security measures. Our Service (USPS) that threatened the timely delivery People First of Alabama v. Merrill to secure passage of the For the People Act of efforts were successful after Congress appropriated of absentee and vote-by-mail ballots nationwide.34 2019 (H.R.1 and S.1), which would expand access Power Coalition v. Edwards additional funding to support the 2020 elections. Shortly after Louis DeJoy was appointed to the voting box, increase penalties for voter Specifically, $425 million in new Help America intimidation, and advance major campaign finance Michigan Welfare Rights Vote Act (HAVA) Election Security Funds, was reform. The work to advance these critical voting Organization v. Donald J. Trump authorized and subsequently approved to cover rights bills has continued in the 117th Congress. 32 Wendy Weiser & Daniel Weiner, Opinion-Editorial, The Supreme Court’s “Breathtakingly Radical” New Approach to Election Law, Politico and Republican National state election security expenditures necessitated (Nov. 22, 2020), https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/11/22/ LDF’s litigators filed numerous lawsuits in our supreme-court-election-law-voting-rights-438844; Emmett Wit- Committee by the pandemic.30 Additionally, as part of the kovsky-Eldred & Nina Totenberg, As Concerns About Voting Build,The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security target states in the runup to the 2020 elections Supreme Court Refuses To Step In, NPR (July 25, 2020), https://www. npr.org/2020/07/25/895185355/as-concerns-about-voting-build-the- (CARES) Act, $400 million was appropriated challenging onerous voter ID laws, limited access Mays v. Thurston supreme-court-refuses-to-step-in. specifically for COVID-19-related election or burdensome requirements for mail ballots 33 Raysor v. DeSantis, 591 U. S. ____ (2020), July 16, 2020, https:// Harding v. Edwards expenses.31 during a pandemic, attempts to deny the franchise www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/19pdf/19a1071_4h25.pdf (Sotomay- or, J. dissenting). to returning citizens, and other systemic barriers to voter access. In a significant number of cases, we 34 Jason Bogage, Postal Service memos detail ‘difficult’ changes, including Thomas v. Andino slower mail delivery, Wash. Post (July 14, 2020), https://www.washing- got some relief from the most restrictive measures, tonpost.com/business/2020/07/14/postal-service-trump-dejoy-de- lay-mail/; Jason Bogage & Christopher Ingraham, Swing-state voters but we faced a hostile U.S. Supreme Court Allen v. Graham 30 Consolidated Appropriations Act, Pub. L. No. 116-93, 133 Stat face major mail delays in returning ballots on time, USPS data shows, Wash. Post (Oct. 30, 2020), https://www.washingtonpost.com/busi- that repeatedly refused to protect the right to 2317 (2019). ness/2020/10/30/postal-service-absentee-ballots-2020-election/; Com- plaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief, NAACP v. USPS, No. 31 Coronavirus Aid, Relief, & Economic Security Act (CARES Act), 20-2295 (D.D.C. Aug. 20, 2020), ECF No. 1, https://www.naacpldf. Pub. L. No. 116-136, 134 Stat 281, 530 (2020). org/wp-content/uploads/1-Complaint.pdf. 10 | DEMOCRACY DEFENDED THURGOOD MARSHALL INSTITUTE | tminstituteldf.org | 11  E X ECU T IVE SU MMARY Postmaster General in May of 2020,35 the USPS imposed changes in its mail delivery policies,36 throughout the election season and reach out to elections officials when we learned about voter VOTER INTIMIDATION bypassing legally required procedures to ensure intimidation efforts, LDF’s Litigation team accountability and an opportunity for public also engaged to challenge voter intimidation by comment. These changes led to widespread delays government officials. On the eve of the election, 200 peaceful marchers and in mail delivery across the nation when it mattered On the eve of the election, 200 peaceful marchers prospective voters were walking from a local church to a most: during a global pandemic when people and prospective voters were walking from a local were relying on the mail for medications, stimulus church to a nearby poll site on October 31, the nearby poll site on October 31, the last day of early voting checks, voting, and more. last day of early voting in Alamance County, in Alamance County, North Carolina. Without provocation LDF filed suit to reverse the policies that led to North Carolina. Without provocation or warning, widespread delays and to ensure that mail-in the law enforcement departments of the City or warning, the law enforcement departments of the City of ballots would be delivered on time to be counted.37 of Graham and Alamance County repeatedly Although the court granted a preliminary deployed pepper spray into the crowd—among Graham and Alamance County repeatedly deployed pepper injunction in our favor,38 the USPS did not them young children, elderly individuals, and immediately comply. Substantial mail delays those with disabilities—just seconds after they had spray into the crowd—among them young children, elderly persisted, and we sought an order to enforce knelt in silence for eight minutes and 46 seconds individuals, and those with disabilities—just seconds after the injunction. This led to multiple court orders in remembrance of the police killing of George requiring USPS to implement measures to ensure Floyd. Instead of voting as they had planned, the they had knelt in silence for eight minutes and 46 seconds that ballots were delivered in a timely manner and marchers were forced to flee the area to protect to provide the court with data about the status of themselves and their families. Fearful of returning in remembrance of the police killing of George Floyd. its efforts.39 to the area that day, some prospective voters were unable to register to vote by the 3 p.m. deadline Voter intimidation was also a significant factor in our work for the 2020 election. Not only did and therefore could not vote on Election Day. Instead of voting as they had planned, the marchers were LDF and co-counsel filed a lawsuit against the our VRD/PTV teams monitor voter intimidation City of Graham and Alamance County challenging forced to flee the area to protect themselves and their this unwarranted use of force and intimidation of prospective voters.40 families. Fearful of returning to the area that day, some 35 Press Release, USPS, Board of Governors Announces Selec- tion of Louis DeJoy to Serve as Nation’s 75th Postmaster General, prospective voters were unable to register to vote by the (May 6, 2020), https://about.usps.com/newsroom/national-releas- Shortly after the election, we filed suit against es/2020/0506-bog-announces-selection-of-louis-dejoy-to-serve-as-na- tions-75th-postmaster-general.htm. President Trump and his campaign challenging 3 p.m. deadline and therefore could not vote on Election Day. their coordinated efforts to disenfranchise Black 36 See, e.g., Mandatory Stand-Up Talk: All Employees, Pivoting For Our Future, Memorandum from USPS to Staff (July 10, 2020) (on file with voters in Michigan by intimidating, threatening, Federal News Network), https://federalnewsnetwork.com/wp-content/ uploads/2020/07/071020-stand-up-talk.pdf. and coercing state and local elections officials in an effort to pressure them not to certify or 37 Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief, NAACP v. USPS, No. 20-2295 (D.D.C. Aug. 20, 2020), ECF No. 1, https://www. naacpldf.org/wp-content/uploads/1-Complaint.pdf. 38 Memorandum in Support of Plaintiff’s Motion for a Preliminary 40 Complaint, Allen et al v. City of Graham et al, No. 20-997 (Nov. Injunction, NAACP v. USPS, No. 20-2295 (D.D.C. Sept. 1, 2020), 2, 2020), ECF No. 1, https://www.naacpldf.org/wp-content/uploads/ ECF No. 8-1, https://www.naacpldf.org/wp-content/uploads/8-1-Me- North-Carolina-Voter-Intimidation-Filed-Complaint.pdf, see also mo-in-Support.pdf. Isaac Groves, Lawsuits accuse Alamance County sheriff, Graham police with suppressing right to vote, (Burlington) Times-News (Nov. 9, 2020), 39 NAACP v. USPS, Public Citizen, https://www.citizen.org/litigation/ https://greensboro.com/news/local_news/lawsuits-accuse-alamance- naacp-v-united-states-postal-service/ (last visited May 14, 2021) county-sheriff-graham-police-with-suppressing-right-to-vote/arti- ((LDF co-counsel) case history). cle_f2a13822-229d-11eb-ba21-7b86a8d269b6.html. 12 | DEMOCRACY DEFENDED THURGOOD MARSHALL INSTITUTE | tminstituteldf.org | 13  Under federal law, Under South Carolina law, KENTUCKY ARE YOU you have the right to: you have the right to: Run into pr Vote free from intimidation Vote if you are in line by the time X SUMMARY GENERAL ELECTION polls close Long lines? Polling l WHAT IDs ARE ACCEPTABLE? Cast a provisional ballot if there Polling location not October 9 (Fri) Deadline to request an absentee ballot through the Vote from your vehicle (curbside Name removed from AL A online secure portal (by 11:59 p.m.) is uncertainty ID used by U.S. government (e.g. military ID) College ID issuedregarding by a U.S. school your registration status or eligibility voting) if you are over 65 years intimidation? Misin BAM ID issued by KY state or local government October 13 (Tues) Early in-person voting begins, of age or have a disability that requirements or po A count votes cast in Detroit.41 We later filed an including Saturday voting name All IDs must contain the voter’s and photo. Those Receive who do not have photo assistance when voting if prevents you from standing in line. machine or other te identification will need to sign a “Reasonable Impediment Declaration” form and provide a amended complaint challenging similar conduct in October 27 (Tues) Deadline to request an absentee ballot by phone, ARE you are unable to vote unaided due GEN non-photo ID like a Social Security card, a credit or debit card, or a food stamps card. Fear of the REPORT ISSUES T other states and adding the Republican National ERAfax, mail, e-mail, or in person. We recommend that L ELrequest their absentee ballot by October 15 voters YOU COVID-19 virus will be accepted as ato blindness, reasonable disability, impediment to obtaining an ID. illiteracy, Octo ECT or inability to read English; and the [email protected] ber 1 IO 9 ( and return it promptly N right to choose who assists you, so Committee as a defendant. 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