Ballot Measures, Legislation & Rulemaking
Federal Legislation: U.S. Virgin Islands Delegate Stacey Plaskett and Republican colleague, James Moylan of Guam, introduced a bipartisan bill July 3 to create a congressional task force that will study voting rights and develop a report on representation for U.S. territories. The proposed 15-member task force would be appointed by leadership from both chambers of Congress. It would hold hearings, work with territorial governments, and deliver a report within a year detailing the barriers residents face in gaining full and equal representation. The bill builds on provisions from the “For the People Act” introduced in previous congressional sessions by House democrats in 116th and 117th Congresses. More than 3.5 million U.S. citizens living in the territories cannot vote for president and lack full voting representation in Congress. Plaskett announced the legislation on July 3, highlighting the territory’s long history of fighting for equal rights. “Today, on Emancipation Day in the U.S. Virgin Islands, we take a critical step toward addressing one of the most glaring inequities in our democracy,” Plaskett said. “The timing of this announcement honors the historic significance of July 3, 1848, when enslaved people in the Danish West Indies—now the U.S. Virgin Islands — gained their freedom, marking a pivotal moment in the fight for equal rights and representation.” Moylan said the lack of voting rights is especially troubling given the number of residents from the territories who serve in the military.
Arizona: Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) vetoed legislation designed to help Arizona expedite results. The governor said she could not accept a provision she said could penalize some voters who wait until the last minute to cast their ballots. Her rejection of SB 1001 was in the last batch of bills sent to her before the Legislature adjourned for the year on June 27. SB1001 still would have allowed ballot drop-offs — but with the option of on-site verification. That would mean getting photo identification from those dropping off their ballots after Friday night, a move that would eliminate the need for the kind of signature verification of “late-early ballots” that otherwise could not start until days after Election Day. The legislation still would allow people to simply drop a ballot and leave. And those ballots still would be counted. But there was a price of sorts to be paid for forcing that after-election signature verification: That voter would be removed from the “active early voting list,” meaning they would not automatically get another ballot by mail ahead of the next election. Hobbs pronounced that a non-starter. She said there are voters who depend on family members or caregivers to drop off their early ballots, meaning they could not appear in person to have their identification checked. And that, said the governor, presents them with the choice of either losing the option to complete their ballots on Election Day — an option that exists for everyone else — or being removed from that active early voter list. “I’m certain that we all agree that every eligible vote should count, and no American should be deprived of this right,” Hobbs wrote.
Florida: Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has signed Senate Bill 892 into law, officially codifying the Florida State University College of Law’s Election Law Center. The center was created during the 2023 legislative session through a $1 million appropriation.The FSU Election Law Center provides objective, evidence-based analysis of constitutional, statutory and regulatory issues in election law, working closely with election administrators, legislators and policymakers to improve election procedures and promote public confidence in the electoral system. The center also creates unique learning opportunities for FSU College of Law students, develops comprehensive election law resources and hosts conferences and training sessions.
Guam: In line with a March executive order by President Donald Trump “to preserve and protect the integrity of American elections,” Sen. Telo Taitague held a public hearing on her Bill 154-38 that would require “documentary proof of United States citizenship to align Guam voter registration practices with federal election integrity standards.” “At the heart of this bill is a simple principle: voting in U.S. elections is a right reserved for U.S. citizens. While Guam law currently requires voter applications to declare their citizenship under penalty of perjury, it does not require actual proof of that citizenship,” Taitague said. Taitague chairs the Committee on Economic Investment, Military Buildup, Regional Relations, Regulatory Affairs, Technology, Justice, Elections and Retirement. Guam Election Commission Executive Director Maria Pangelinan testified that the GEC supports reinstating documentation requirements. “Historically, Guam law required documentary proof of citizenship. This was later removed in 2015 to streamline registration, allowing applicants to self-declare under penalty of perjury,” Pangelinan said. “Effectively, Bill 154-38 provides a structured approach to, one, ensure that voter eligibility is clearly established. Two, provide a uniform, fair, and enforceable standard for all registrants. And three, reflect best practices for election security and legal compliance,” she added Bill 154 would require voter applicants to submit documentary proof of U.S. citizenship, such as a U.S. passport, Certificate of U.S. Citizenship, or Certificate of Naturalization, along with a valid government-issued photo identification, Taitague said.
Michigan: Clerks from across the state spoke up before the House Election Integrity Committee, offering their support for a piece of legislation aimed at preserving their say in pre-election testing of voting machines. Committee Chair Rachelle Smit (R-Martin), a former clerk, told her colleagues that for years, local clerks have successfully conducted logic and accuracy testing of their machines by working with vendors of their choosing. However, Smit raised concerns that a recent contract acquired by the Michigan Secretary of State could require clerks to use only their contracted vendor to generate test decks. “This represents a fundamental shift from our local control to state mandated centralization, a shift that raises concerns about the integrity, transparency and fiscal responsibility. The bill before us today provides very clear, common sense protections that preserve local autonomy while ensuring proper standards. Specifically it protects local choice,” Smit said. Smit’s House Bill 4602 states that the Secretary of State cannot bar or restrict local clerks from using any lawful source for creating testing materials. “Our local clerks are directly accountable to their communities. This legislation ensures that they retain the tools and autonomy necessary to fulfill that responsibility. When problems arise, clerks need direct control over the processes and relationships with their vendors,” Smit said, later emphasizing that local jurisdictions operate under tight budgets.
House Republicans introduced a bill to ban ranked-choice voting in Michigan. The bill would ban any ranked choice elections at state, city or township levels.
New Jersey: The Senate State Government, Wagering, Tourism & Historic Preservation Committee has advanced legislation sponsored by Sen. Andrew Zwicker (D-Middlesex/Mercer/Somerset/Hunterdon), which would amend the law concerning post-election audits. Under the bill, S-3853, these changes would include permitting post-election audits to be conducted by independent third-party electronic machines that are not in any way associated with the official ballot tabulation system for the election, in addition to a hand-to-eye count. Under current law, post-election audits are conducted exclusively through hand-to-eye counts of voter-verifiable paper records. The bill would also eliminate certain requirements for audit procedures designed, adopted, and implemented by the audit team to ensure a certain percentage of statistical power that a 100 percent manual recount of the voter-verifiable paper records would not alter the electoral outcome reported by the audit. Instead, post-election audit procedures will be published before elections and subject to public comment.
North Carolina: House Republicans want more than a third of existing staff positions at the state elections office to be converted to jobs for political appointees, eliciting criticism about the politicization of voting administration. The proposed changes were unveiled in a bill approved by the House Elections Law Committee June 26. Changes the bill proposes would prohibit state and local election board members from encouraging voting and open a way for foreign nationals to contribute to referendum campaigns. Another provision would require members of the military and citizens voting from other countries to provide photo ID or sign a document saying why they couldn’t send one. State Elections Director Sam Hayes told the House Elections Committee that House Bill 958 would allow him to reorganize the office the way he wants. “These positions would just allow me the flexibility that I need to conduct that reorganization and make sure that folks that are surrounding me, certainly my direct reports and I, are aligned on the vision for the agency as I set forward,” he said. “But I want to assure everybody today that we are going to do this in a nonpartisan fashion.” Democrats on the committee objected to having the main office overseeing elections convert 25 jobs to those where employees are hired and fired based on their politics. The bill would also authorize a new signature verification pilot program for citizens voting by mail. The legislature mandated the first one in 2023. The bill also includes provisions that would prevent state and local election board members from making public statements promoting voter turnout.
Ohio: Two Republican Ohio lawmakers want to revise the state’s election laws to require proof of citizenship during or after voter registration, among other amendments. State Sen. Theresa Gavarone of Bowling Green and State Sen. Andrew Brenner of Delaware said the creation of Senate Bill 153 is to protect the integrity of Ohio’s elections. If it passes, it will require Ohioans registering to vote or updating their registration to also provide proof of citizenship. The bill states current or expired driver’s license, passports, birth certificates or naturalization forms would all be accepted. If the person has had a name change, they would have to show proof of that change. The bill would also change zoning laws for county elections and ban drop boxes. SB153 remains in Senate committee for discussion and approval. It must pass the state Senate and House before moving to Gov. Mike DeWine’s desk for consideration.
Legal Updates
Arizona: According to Votebeat, Arizona election officials would be instructed to provide more notice to voters who are at risk of being removed from the state’s early-voting list, under a conditional legal settlement with voting rights groups. The settlement, which was filed in court June 23 and still subject to final approval, would resolve a longstanding challenge to a 2021 law that eliminated the state’s Permanent Early Voting List. The agreement says voters who face removal should be notified two additional times before they are taken off the list, and once afterward. The agreement does not appear to impose any new notification requirements on county recorders, who manage county voter rolls. What it would do is provide suggested best practices for how the recorders should implement the law, including the schedule of notices. Because the additional notices wouldn’t be required, voters across the state could face unequal treatment as recorders begin implementing the law for the first time in 2027.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) and Arizona GOP have filed a lawsuit seeking to block an Arizona law that allows military and other temporarily absent overseas voters to cast ballots without providing proof of citizenship directly to the state. The Arizona law, adopted in 2023, allows some overseas U.S. citizens who have not lived in the Grand Canyon State but have a parent who is a registered Arizona voter to cast ballots through a federal write-in system created under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) of 1986. The Arizona election law was reviewed by the Supreme Court last August, when justices sided with the RNC and Arizona GOP leaders’ argument that proof of citizenship should be required for state voter registration forms. But the high court also upheld the portion of the law that allows overseas voters to cast ballots by mail without confirming citizenship to the state if they meet other federal registration requirements.
Arkansas: Thomas Wesson, 59 of Ouachita County is facing felony charges of lying about a felony conviction to cast a ballot in the 2024 general election, a news release from Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin states. Agents working for the attorney general’s office and Ouachita County sheriff’s deputies arrested Wesson after an investigation by the office’s Election Integrity Unit determined that Wesson cast a provisional ballot in November after stating he isn’t a felon on his voter registration application, the release states. Wesson, who was convicted of felony possession of narcotics in 2000, did not follow proper procedure and illegally inserted his ballot into a tabulator, the release states. In Arkansas, felons are ineligible to vote unless they have completed their sentences and restored their voting rights.
California: The San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office filed election fraud charges against Gaea Powell, who ran for Arroyo Grande mayor in the 2022 and 2024 elections. Powell is charged with voter registration fraud, filing a false declaration of candidacy, fraudulent voting, failure to file campaign finance reports, and perjury by declaration. The DA’s Office alleges that in July 2022, Powell registered to vote at an address in the City of Arroyo Grande where she did not live, thereby committing voter registration fraud. Instead, prosecutors say she lived in a rural part of the county outside of the city limits. Also during the 2022 election cycle, she’s accused of falsely declaring under penalty of perjury the location of her residence, submitting false nomination papers, failing to file campaign finance reports as required by law, and voting on November 8, 2022, where she was not legally entitled to vote. It’s also alleged that Powell voted in the March 5 and November 5 elections in 2024, where she was not legally entitled to vote, falsely declared under penalty of perjury the location of her residence, and submitted false nomination papers.
Cruz Mora, 26 of Live Oak has been arrested for illegal electioneering related to an incident that took place during the November 2024 election. According to the Sutter County Sheriff’s Mora was reported to their office by the Sutter County Precinct Inspector in November of 2024 for interfering with the election. According to the inspector, Mora was wearing a campaign shirt and recording inside a polling place with his cellphone. Authorities say that election observers are prohibited from displaying election materials or recording voters at polling sites. This is to prevent the intimidation of voters while they are at a polling place. A warrant was issued for Mora by authorities for illegal electioneering. On July 4, Mora was found riding his bike in Live Oak and was taken into custody by the Sutter County Sheriff’s Office without incident.
Colorado: Federal Magistrate Judge Scott T. Varholak denied a motion from former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, who asked to appear at an upcoming court hearing remotely from prison in Pueblo. Peters is serving a nine-year prison sentence for her role in a 2021 security breach in the elections office she oversaw. Peters has appealed the conviction. While the Colorado Court of Appeals reviews her appeal, Peters has filed a federal habeas corpus petition in U.S. District Court of Colorado, arguing that she should be released on bond pending the appeal decision. The hearing, scheduled for July 22, is set to focus on the habeas corpus petition, in which Peters’ attorneys say that “since she has been incarcerated, her health has deteriorated.” Peters’ attorneys said in the motion that she wanted to attend the July 22 hearing because the issues being discussed “affect her liberty interests.” Varholak’s decision precludes her from doing so.
Georgia: Georgia’s state Court of Appeals has upheld a lower court’s ruling in a 2024 election case, affirming that local election board members must certify election results by the deadline outlined in state law. Last fall, Fulton County election board member Julie Adams, a Republican who refused to certify the results in her county’s presidential preference primary, filed a lawsuit against Fulton County, arguing that board members have the option to refuse to certify election results if they have reason to believe they are inaccurate. A spate of last-minute rule changes issued by the State Election Board would also have granted county boards greater leeway to delay certifying election results, but were later struck down by a Superior Court judge. In October, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney rejected her claim, issuing a ruling that stated “election superintendents in Georgia have a mandatory fixed obligation to certify election results.” In a decision issued July 2, a three-judge panel agreed. “Adams’ contention that the trial court erred by declaring she had a mandatory duty to certify election results is without merit,” the judges wrote in their decision. They also concluded that while election officials have certain forms of recourse if they believe there are errors in the election counts, “these concerns are not a basis for a superintendent to partially or entirely refuse to certify election results by the deadline.”
Kentucky: Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman announced July 1 there were no credible election law violations from 12 counties after inquiries were opened following the 2024 general election. The inquiries, conducted by detectives from the Attorney General’s Department of Criminal Investigations, were presented to grand juries by the Special Prosecutions Unit, officials from Coleman’s office said in a statement. “Kentuckians can have confidence our Commonwealth’s elections are free, fair and secure,” Coleman said, adding he was appreciative of county clerks, poll workers and volunteers “who made it possible for Kentuckians to exercise one of our most fundamental rights.” After the 2024 general election, Coleman randomly picked 12 counties to undergo the inquiries. In addition to Jefferson County, Barren, Boyle, Calloway, Campbell, Daviess, Edmonson, Jessamine, Lincoln, Metcalf, Trigg and Warren counties were also selected.
Thomas Dennis III, 51 of Covington was indicted June 26 on charges that he committed voter fraud over a 20-year period, according to Kentucky Attorney Russell Coleman. Dennis was indicted on three counts of wrongful registration, a felony, and three counts of perjury, a misdemeanor. Dennis, who was found guilty of sexual misconduct in 1993, according to court records, was a felon who attempted to register to vote three times in 2006, 2018 and 2020, respectively, according to the court’s indictment. Those attempts also landed him the perjury charges for attempting to mislead county officials by falsifying his voting record.
Louisiana: The Supreme Court ordered further arguments over Louisiana’s congressional map that was approved by the state’s GOP-led legislature and created a second majority-Black district. An order from the court issued on the last day of its term restored the case to its calendar for reargument, with an additional scheduling order to come. Justice Clarence Thomas dissented from the move to order more arguments and said the court should have decided the case. The move means the state’s map with two majority-Black districts remains intact for now. The district lines at the center of the dispute were invalidated in 2022 by a three-judge lower court panel, which sided with a group of self-described “non-African-American voters” who had challenged the House map as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. The map wasn’t the first crafted by the state’s Republican-led legislature in the wake of the 2020 Census. Instead, Louisiana’s efforts to redraw district lines, as all states do after the census, have resulted in a yearslong legal battle that has been before the Supreme Court twice before.
Minnesota: Ronnie Williams, 58, of Nevada pleaded guilty this week to conspiracy to commit voter registration fraud. Williams entered his plea before U.S. District Judge Laura Provinzino in St. Paul. Court records don’t say whether there was a formal plea agreement. Williams’ co-defendant, Lorraine Lee Combs, 57, pleaded guilty June 24. Under her plea agreement, the prosecution and defense agreed that the nonbinding federal sentencing guidelines recommend a sentence of zero to six months in prison, with one to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $20,000. The actual sentences will be determined by the judge. The charges carry statutory maximums of five years in prison. Sentencing dates have not been set. Both defendants will remain free in the meantime. Williams and Combs allegedly generated fictitious names and other data they used to fill out Minnesota voter registration forms in 2021 and 2022. The charging documents filed last month say Williams provided the completed forms to an entity that sought to register voters in Minnesota that is identified only as “Foundation 1,” which paid him, and that he then split the proceeds with Combs.
North Dakota: The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals won’t reconsider its decision in a redistricting case that went against two Native American tribes that challenged North Dakota’s legislative redistricting map, and the dispute could be headed for the U.S. Supreme Court. According to The Associated Press, the case has drawn national interest because of a 2-1 ruling issued in May by a three-judge panel of the 8th Circuitthat erased a path through the federal Voting Rights Act for people in seven states to sue under a key provision of the landmark federal civil rights law. The tribes argued that the 2021 map violated the act by diluting their voting strength and ability to elect their own candidates. The panel said only the U.S. Department of Justice can bring such lawsuits. That followed a 2023 ruling out of Arkansas in the same circuit that also said private individuals can’t sue under Section 2 of the law. After the May decision, the Spirit Lake Tribe and Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians asked the appeals court for a rehearing before all 11 judges. Attorneys general of 19 states, numerous former U.S. Justice Department attorneys, several voting rights historians and others also asked for a rehearing. But in a ruling July 3, the full court denied the request, which was filed by the Native American Rights Fund and other groups representing the tribes. Three judges said they would have granted it, including Circuit Chief Judge Steven Colloton, who had dissented in the previous ruling. On July 9, the Campaign Legal Center said it will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review an Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling.
Oklahoma: A decision from the Oklahoma Supreme Court will determine whether a petition for open primaries can continue in the state. The Oklahoma Supreme Court heard oral arguments on June 24 about State Question 836. SQ 836 proposes that all registered voters in Oklahoma would vote in one primary election. All voters would get the same ballot with candidates from all parties on it. From there, the two candidates with the most votes would move onto the general election. This proposal was announced shortly after the general election last year. The open primary petition delivers voters. The fastest growing group of voters in Oklahoma. The nearly 500,000 taxpayers registered as Independents. Independents have been systematically excluded from voting in closed primaries and we need to fix that and this petition does it,” Oklahoma United CEO Margaret Kobos said when the proposal was announced. Now, the state question is being challenged in court by the Oklahoma Republican Party, as many state Republicans have been vocal about not wanting an open primary system. The lawsuit argues the SQ 836 is unconstitutional.
Pennsylvania: U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle III sentenced a Delaware County elected official who admitted his role in an ultimately unsuccessful scheme to steal a mayoral election to nearly two years in prison. Sentencing for Md Munsur Ali, 48, of Millbourne came about a week after Bartle sentenced his two co-conspirators to federal prison. In addition to 21 months behind bars, Bartle ordered Ali to serve a year of supervised release and pay a $2,500 special assessment. Ali, who remains a member of Millbourne Council, pleaded guilty in April to 25 charges against him — one count of conspiracy, 12 counts of giving false information in registering to vote, and 12 counts of fraudulent voter registration. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Philadelphia, Ali and co-conspirators Md Nurul Hasan, 48, and Md Rafikul Islam, 52, also of Millbourne, agreed to fraudulently submit write-in votes to elect Hasan mayor, after he was knocked out of contention in the 2021 Democratic primary election. Hasan and Islam also pleaded guilty in April.
Texas: A South Texas grand jury reportedly indicted nine people, including the former chair of the Bexar County Democratic Party and a former Texas House candidate, for alleged vote harvesting in an investigation led by Attorney General Ken Paxton. The indictments add to six previous ones revealed by Paxton in May. The others charged include the former mayors of Pearsall and Dilley and other local elected officials from those cities and Frio County, according to KSAT. According to the Texas Tribune, the investigation and indictments targeted Latino Democrats in the state. At the time, Latino leaders in Texas condemned the moves while Democratic state lawmakers asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the state for potential violations of federal law and civil and voting rights amid a flurry of what Republican state leaders described as efforts to secure the state’s elections.Neither Paxton’s office nor 81st Judicial District Attorney Audrey Gossett Louis returned requests for comment.
Kelly Kenten Giles, 64, chairman of the Randall County Republican Party, was booked into jail this week on a state felony election fraud charge. Giles is accused of providing false information on his application and petition to run for the Randall County Republican Party Chair seat in December 2023 for a spot on the 2024 primary ballot, according to the grand jury indictment signed late last month. It is unclear what about his application or petition was considered fraudulent. The offense is typically classified as a misdemeanor, but because Giles is accused of doing it while serving as an elected official, it becomes a felony. Giles did not respond to a request for comment, nor did anyone else with the Randall County Republican Party.
Virginia: Norfolk Circuit Court Judge Everett Martin has ruled in favor of Norfolk Electoral Board Vice Chair Marianne McKay, allowing her to remain in her position. The decision comes after a contentious battle in which fellow board members and the city’s registrar sought her removal, citing accusations of failing to perform her duties in accordance with the law and engaging in political activities. The petition for removal was initiated by Electoral Board Chair Atoy Carrington and Registrar Stephanie Iles. In a hearing before the State Board of Elections in January, both officials pleaded for intervention, with Iles describing the situation in Norfolk’s election office as “toxic” and expressing concern in an email that future elections would be in jeopardy if McKay was not removed. Carrington begged the state board for help. McKay, a Republican appointee to the board, was accused of a series of actions, including seeking to withdraw her certification of the 2024 general election results and using her training to train poll workers through a group called The Election Integrity Committee, which accusers argued was a political activity while performing official duties. The Republican-leaning State Board of Elections voted 4 to 1 to refer the case to Norfolk’s Commonwealth’s Attorney, Ramin Fatehi.
Circuit Court Judge Randall Smith has voided the district-based local election system implemented by the federal courts in 2021. Smith ruled the city acted illegally when it adopted an ordinance in 2023 to codify the 10-1 district system without a corresponding charter change. The 10-district system was in effect for the 2022 and 2024 elections. The results of those elections stand based on the Smith’s ruling this week. The ruling doesn’t immediately offer any way to resolve the conflicting requirements. Any city charter changes in Virginia must be approved by the General Assembly. A change to enshrine Virginia Beach’s district system was approved by Virginia’s House of Delegates and Senate in 2024, but Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed the bill. An upcoming voter referendum authorized by the city council may help resolve the matter. Residents will vote in November on whether they want the 10-district system or restore three at-large council seats.
Wisconsin: A new lawsuit seeking to redraw Wisconsin’s congressional district boundary lines was filed on July 8, less than two weeks after the state Supreme Court declined to hear a pair of other lawsuits that asked for redistricting before the 2026 election. The latest lawsuit brought by a bipartisan coalition of business leaders was filed in Dane County circuit court, rather than directly with the state Supreme Court as the rejected cases were. The justices did not give any reason for declining to hear those cases, but typically lawsuits start in a lower court and work their way up. This new lawsuit’s more lengthy journey through the courts might not be resolved in time to order new maps before the 2026 midterms. The Wisconsin Business Leaders for Democracy argue in the new lawsuit that Wisconsin’s congressional maps are unconstitutional because they are an anti-competitive gerrymander. The lawsuit notes that the median margin of victory for candidates in the eight districts since the maps were enacted is close to 30 percentage points.
Wyoming: The Republican National Committee filed a motion in federal court June 26 asking to intervene in a lawsuit challenging Wyoming’s new voter registration law. The new law requires a person to provide proof of state residency and U.S. citizenship when registering to vote. The law will also require someone registering to vote to attest that they’ve lived in Wyoming for at least 30 days. Equality State Policy Center, a voting-rights group, filed a lawsuit in May, alleging the new law will impose an undue burden on the right to vote and is unconstitutionally vague as written. The group has asked the court to prevent the law from going into effect while the case plays out. High-profile attorneys — who have fought for and against President Trump on the national stage — have since flocked to both sides of the case. Plus, a coalition of 25 states and Guam filed a proposed amicus brief Friday, urging the court to allow the law to go into effect. “Wyoming follows four other states — Arizona, Kansas, Georgia, and Alabama — that have taken similar steps to ensure that only United States citizens are registered to vote,” the brief states, before accusing the plaintiff of seeking to “thwart democracy in the name of democracy.” As for the Republican National Committee, “when a state’s election laws are challenged in federal court, political parties should be granted intervention to protect their unique interests,” the group argued in its motion to intervene. If the court grants the request, the RNC would become a defendant in the case alongside Secretary of State Chuck Gray and the state’s 23 county clerks.
Attorneys for Secretary of State Chuck Gray asked a federal court June 27 to dismiss a lawsuit against Wyoming’s new voter registration law, arguing in two filings that the complaint does not sufficiently demonstrate how the new requirements could harm potential voters. Proof of state residency and U.S. citizenship will be required to register to vote in Wyoming under the new law. The law also requires someone registering to vote to attest that they’ve lived in the state for at least 30 days. Equality State Policy Center, a voting-rights group made up of several nonprofits, filed a lawsuit in May after the Wyoming Legislature passed House Bill 156, “Proof of voter residency-registration qualifications”. The complaint alleges the new law is unconstitutionally vague as written and will impose an undue burden on the right to vote — particularly for women as well as Hispanic, young and low-income voters. The harms described in the complaint, however, are speculative and lack the kind of specificity required to have standing in a federal court, Gray’s attorneys argued in court filings.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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