Major Pending Election Cases

Mi Familia Vota et al. v. Fontes

Filing Date:

March 31, 2022

Status:

pending

State:

Arizona

Topics:

Voter ID, Voter Suppression

Most Recent Court:

U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona (2:22-cv-00509)

Issue(s):

Arizona House Bill 2492 requires new voters who use federal forms under the National Voter Registration Act to register to vote to provide proof of citizenship to vote in presidential elections or to vote by mail in any election. The bill also requires voters who registered when there was not a proof of citizenship requirement to provide citizenship documentation to vote in presidential elections. The bill allows the Arizona Attorney General to investigate voters with missing citizenship statuses. Mi Familia Vota challenges the law arguing it violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments by severely burdening the right to vote and disenfranchising Arizona voters.

Minnesota Voters Alliance v. Ellison

Filing Date:

August 28, 2023

Status:

pending

State:

Minnesota

Topic:

First Amendment

Most Recent Court:

Dist. Minnesota

Issue(s):

The plaintiffs are challenging Minnesota's election misinformation laws which makes it a misdemeanor to knowingly spread false information with the intent to impede or prevent people from voting if issued within 60 days of an election. The plaintiffs bring forth various arguments alleging that the law violates the freedom of speech under the First Amendment.

New Georgia Project et al. v. Raffensperger

Filing Date:

March 25, 2021

Status:

pending

State:

Georgia

Topics:

Absentee Ballots, Voter Suppression

Most Recent Court:

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia (1:21-cv-01229); For new filings see, In Re: Georgia Senate Bill 202 (1:21-MI-55555-JPB)

Issue(s):

New Georgia Project, Black Voters Matter Fund, and RISE, Inc. challenge SB 202, a voting bill that passed in the aftermath of the 2020 election. The bill prohibits third parties (including voter engagement organizations) from collecting absentee ballot applications, restricts use of absentee drop boxes, bans mobile polling places, prohibits the state from distributing unsolicited absentee ballot applications, invalidates ballots cast before 5:00 pm by voters in a precinct other than the one to which they were assigned, and more. Plaintiffs challenge SB 202 as an undue burden on the right to vote, in violation of the 1st and 14th Amendments.

OCA-Greater Houston v. Secretary of State Esparza

Filing Date:

September 3, 2021

Status:

pending

State:

Texas

Topics:

Absentee Ballots, Provisional Ballots, Voter ID, Voter Suppression, Voting Rights Act

Most Recent Court:

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas (1:21-cv-00780); For new filings see, La Union Del Pueblo Entero v. Abbott (No. 5:21-cv-00844)

Issue(s):

Civil rights organizations challenge Senate Bill 1, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief based on the First and Fourteenth Amendments, the Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act (VRA), and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Plaintiffs argue that SB1 disproportionately impacts voters with disabilities, voters with limited English proficiency, and voters of color.

Pennsylvania State Conference of the NAACP v. Schmidt

Filing Date:

November 4, 2022

Status:

pending

State:

Pennsylvania

Topics:

Civil Rights Act, Mail-In Voting

Most Recent Court:

U.S District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania (No. 1:22-cv-00339)

Issue(s):

On November 1st the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ordered the county boards of elections to not count undated or wrongly dated mail-in ballots. The plaintiffs ask that the defendants be prevented from rejecting these ballots. They argue that the date on which a voter signed their return envelope is immaterial because a ballot's timeliness under Pennsylvania law is determined by when it was received by the county board of elections. Thus, they argue the rejection of the ballots on these grounds violates the Materiality Provision of the Civil Rights Act.

Republican National Committee v. Aguilar

Filing Date:

March 18, 2024

Status:

pending

State:

Nevada

Topics:

National Voter Registration Act, Voter Registration

Most Recent Court:

United Stated District Court for Nevada (No. 2:24-cv-00518)

Issue(s):

The RNC is suing Nevada Secretary of State Aguilar challenging the state's voter roll maintenance. They state that at least three counties in Nevada have more active registered voters than adults over the age of 18. The plaintiff argues that this is due to poor voter roll maintenance, in violation of Section 8 of the National Voter Registration Act and asks the court to implement a program to remove ineligible voters from voter rolls.

Republican National Committee v. Burgess

Filing Date:

May 3, 2024

Status:

pending

State:

Nevada

Topics:

Ballot Access, Mail-In Voting

Most Recent Court:

United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (No. 24-5071)

Issue(s):

The RNC is challenging a Nevada mail-in ballot law which allows mail-in ballots to be received up to four days after election day and assumes that ballots received within three days of election day were postmarked on election day. They argue that this violates the US Constitutuion and federal law, violates the rights of the RNC's candidates because it cannot prevail when ballots are counted after election day without investing in significant post-election activity and they argue that the law violates an individual's right to vote because it dilutes lawfully submitted votes by counting unlawfully submitted votes. The RNC asks the court to find the mail-in ballot receipt deadline to be unconstitutional and to temporarily and permanently block Nevada from counting ballots received after election day.

Sixth District of the AME Church v. Kemp

Filing Date:

March 25, 2021

Status:

pending

State:

Georgia

Topics:

Absentee Ballots, Voter Suppression

Most Recent Court:

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia (1:21-cv-02184); For new filings see, In Re: Georgia Senate Bill 202 (1:21-MI-55555-JPB)

Issue(s):

Plaintiffs challenge several provisions of Georgia SB 202 as violative of the 14th Amendment and Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. AME Church points in particular to the importance of early and weekend voting, especially Sundays, when churches encourage voting through "Souls to the Polls" events. Plaintiffs argue that each of SB 202's challenged provisions independently make it more difficult for historically disenfranchised communities to vote, and cumulatively, impose an even more severe burden.

Tohono O’odham Nation et al v. Brnovich et al

Filing Date:

November 7, 2022

Status:

pending

State:

Arizona

Topics:

First Amendment, National Voter Registration Act

Most Recent Court:

District Court of Arizona (2:22-cv-01901-ESW); For new filings see, Mi Familia Vota v. Hobbs (CV-22-509-PHX-SRB)

Issue(s):

Complaint brought by Tohono O'odham Nation and Gila Indian Community alleging that the proof of location of residence requirement imposed by Arizona HB 2492. The plaintiffs the law would disenfranchise significant numbers of Native Americans by blocking Arizonians who reside in physical dwellings without an address from voting, a circumstance that will disproportionately affect Native Americans. They bring claims under the National Voter Registration Act, as well as under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution.

U.S. v. State of Georgia

Filing Date:

June 25, 2021

Status:

pending

State:

Georgia

Topics:

Absentee Ballots, Provisional Ballots, Voter ID, Voter Suppression, Voting Rights Act

Most Recent Court:

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia; For new filings see, In Re: Georgia Senate Bill 202 (1:21-MI-55555-JPB)

Issue(s):

U.S. filed lawsuit against Georgia for passing of GA Senate Bill 202 arguing that it is in violation of Sec. 2 & 12(d) of the Voting Rights Act due to being intended to deny or abridge the rights of Black Georgians to vote on account of race or color.

CASE TRACKER