St Louis, MO – On Wednesday Project Vote joined two private attorneys in filing suit against the St. Louis County board of elections, demanding that they take steps to prevent some 86,000 St. Louis residents from being wrongly and illegally prevented from casting a ballot on Election Day.
The lawsuit states that actions taken by the election board and the county to update and maintain their voter lists were in direct violation of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA), and have resulted in more than 86,000 eligible voters being removed from the active rolls and placed on an “inactive voter” list.
The County has removed these voters from the voting rolls and labeled them “inactive” for various reasons, some of which were never communicated to the voter. For example, some voters were stripped of their active status following a number of non-forwardable mailings that were returned to the County as “undeliverable.” Many voters who believe that they are registered to vote will only learn of their “inactive” status on Election Day.
“These are 86,000 legal, eligible voters, who – through no fault of their own – have been removed from the active voter lists in violation of federal law,” says Nicole Kovite, attorney for Project Vote. “These voters should not have to jump over additional hurdles on their way to the voting booth. It is the responsibility of St. Louis County to redress this wrong and take every possible step to ensure that no one is deprived of the right to cast a ballot on Election Day.”
The lawsuit was filed by former Missouri Court of Appeals Judge, James R. Dowd and Attorney Alan Mandel, on behalf of two individuals who were registered to vote but then placed on “inactive” status, as well as those similarly situated.
The St. Louis County Board of Elections responded by issuing a letter Friday stating that voters who appear at the polls and are not on the active voter list will be directed to their proper polling place. One election official at every polling place, they claim, will be in possession of a Palm Pilot that supposedly contains the information necessary to allow those individuals to vote or to be directed to the correct polling place. Thousands of voters will not learn of their “inactive” status until after having stood in line to vote. Then, all 86,000 “inactive” voters will then be forced to stand in another line to wait while an election official looks up their name on a Palm Pilot to determine what they need to do to cast a ballot. This system will almost certainly cause extremely long waits and an undue burden on thousands of voters in St. Louis County.
Project Vote and the attorneys contend that these procedures are not sufficient to prevent the potential disenfranchisement of thousands of St. Louis voters. The plaintiffs are requesting that the voters are kept on the precinct roster, that the county make the list of inactive eligible voters available to all election officials, and “implement procedures that do not unduly burden and discriminate against these individuals’ right to vote.”
In 2000, it was the city of St. Louis, not the county, under fire for its improper list maintenance. In the 2000 election, voters placed on the inactive list had to spend hours attempting to vindicate their right to vote at the polls; according to the New York Times, the board admitted that “a significant number” of voters were not processed in time. After an F.B.I. investigation, the Justice Department brought suit against the St. Louis board and the parties reached a consent decree that stipulated how the board would change their procedures for maintaining accurate registration records, complying with federal requirements for notifying voters of their status on the list, and handling voters whose names are not on the active voter list on Election Day.
According to the current complaint, the county’s failure to include inactive voters on the precinct roster is a violation of the NVRA, which lays out very clear legal guidelines for removing voters from the rolls. Absent an explicit written request from the voter, election boards must attempt to communicate directly with the voter by forwardable mail and wait two full election cycles before canceling his or her registration. The lawsuit states that “the segregation of inactive voters onto a separate list only accessible by electronic means and not available to all election judges imposes an undue hardship on the exercise of the franchise and is calculated to deprive citizens the right to vote” under the NVRA, the Voting Rights Act, Missouri law, and the U.S Constitution.
“Qualified voters have a fundamental and absolute right to vote in Missouri,” the complaint says.