Home : Voting Rights

Project Vote, et al. v. Madison County Board of Elections, et al. (09/24/2008)
The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Ohio filed a federal lawsuit challenging an Ohio county that is denying absentee ballots to newly registered voters in violation of directives sent by Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio on behalf of the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless, 1Matters, Project Vote and two individual voters.

United States Student Association Foundation et al. v. Land et al. (09/17/2008)
Advancement Project, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Michigan and the law firm of Pepper Hamilton LLP filed a federal lawsuit challenging two statewide voter purge programs that could potentially disfranchise hundreds of thousands of Michigan voters in advance of the November 2008 presidential election. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court in Detroit against Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land, Michigan Bureau of Elections Director Christopher M. Thomas, and Ypsilanti Clerk Frances McMullen.

Young v. Hosemann (09/12/2008)
The ACLU filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging Mississippi’s denial of voting rights to citizens with felony convictions. Although the Mississippi Constitution permits people who have been convicted of a crime to vote for president and vice president, election administrators denied that right in practice. The ACLU asked the court to allow these citizens to register to vote in time to cast ballots for president and vice president in the 2008 elections.

South Carolina Green Party et al. v. South Carolina State Election Commission et al. (08/07/2008)
In the first case of its kind, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the South Carolina election rules that prevent a candidate seeking the nomination of more than one political party from appearing on the general election ballot if that candidate wins one party's nomination but loses another's. South Carolina is one of only four states that permits fusion voting, which allows multiple political parties to nominate the same candidate, but also has a so-called "sore loser" statute disqualifying candidates who have been selected by one party but rejected by another. The ACLU is representing the state Green Party, a disqualified candidate for the state House of Representatives and a South Carolina voter.

Copeland v Priest (10/25/2002)