National Voting Rights Groups Put Secretary of State Kemp on Notice of Voting Rights Violations

January 25, 2011

ATLANTA, GA – Citing clear evidence that low-income Georgia residents are being denied a legally-mandated opportunity to register to vote, attorneys from Project Vote, Demos, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (LCCRUL), the ACLU Voting Rights Project, and the law firm of Dechert LLP sent a pre-litigation notice letter today to Secretary of State Brian Kemp, on behalf of the Georgia State Conference of the NAACP, demanding that the Secretary immediately act to bring Georgia into compliance with the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) or face litigation.

Section 7 of the NVRA requires state public assistance agencies providing services such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) and Medicaid to provide voter registration services to their clients. In the first two years after the NVRA became effective in Georgia in 1995, the state registered more than 100,000 people through public assistance agencies.

However, according to evidence cited in the notice letter, the Georgia Department of Human Services (DHS) has largely disregarded this law in recent years. By 2008, the number of voter registration applications submitted through public assistance agencies in Georgia had fallen more than 79 percent, to fewer than 11,000 per year. Field investigations conducted by the voting rights groups found that eight out of 11 DHS offices surveyed were not providing voter registration applications to their clients at all, and that voter registration at the other three offices also was not being conducted in compliance with the procedures mandated by the NVRA.

"It is clear that Georgia is not complying with the NVRA, and is neglecting thousands of low-income residents as a result," said Nicole Zeitler, director of the Public Agency Voter Registration Project at Project Vote.

Project Vote and NAACP Legal Defense Fund Put Secretary of State Tom Schedler on Notice of Voting Rights Violations

January 12, 2011

BATON ROUGE, LA – Citing clear evidence that numerous low-income Louisiana residents have been denied the opportunity to register to vote, attorneys from Project Vote, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), and New Orleans attorney Ronald Wilson, have issued official notice to Secretary of State Tom Schedler, the state's Department of Children & Family Services, and its Department of Health & Hospitals regarding the state’s non-compliance with the federal requirements of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA).  

The notification letter, sent today on behalf of the Louisiana State Conference of the NAACP, calls on Schedler and the agencies to take corrective action necessary to bring Louisiana into compliance with federal law. The NVRA requires public assistance agencies that provide services to low-income residents, to offer voter registration services to their clients. The letter cites evidence showing that agencies around the state are failing to fully carry forth their responsibilities under the law.

“The National Voter Registration Act was designed to ensure that all citizens have access to our democracy,” said Dale Ho, Assistant Counsel with LDF’s Political Participation Group. “By defaulting on its obligations under the law, Louisiana is denying substantial numbers of eligible low-income and minority voters equal access to the ballot box,” said Ho.

The evidence cited includes Election Assistance Commission reports, which show that registrations originating from Louisiana public assistance offices have plummeted 88 percent since the law was first implemented: from nearly 75,000 in 1995-1996, to a mere 8,688 in 2007-2008.

"It is clear that Louisiana is violating the NVRA, and neglecting tens of thousands of low-income residents as a result," said Nicole Zeitler, Director of the Public Agency Voter Registration Project at Project Vote.