Suit has been filed challenging La.’s COVID-19 absentee voting restrictions
11th May 2020 · 0 Comments
By Fritz Esker
Contributing Writer
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) and the Washington, D.C. law firm Covington & Burling, LLP filed a federal lawsuit on May 7 challenging voting requirements imposed by the state of Louisiana.
The lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana, centers around restrictions on the use of absentee mail-in ballots and the health risk to in-person voters during the COVID-19 pandemic. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice, the Louisiana State Conference of the NAACP, and four individual voters.
“Risking your health, and the health of your family, should not be a requirement to partake in the electoral process,” said Catherine Meza, senior counsel at the LDF, in a statement. “We are hoping this lawsuit not only increases access to absentee voting, but also makes in-person voting safer, so Louisianians can exercise their constitutional right without putting their lives at risk.”
Gaylor Spiller, president of the Jefferson Parish branch of the NAACP, said that all the branches of the NAACP were in support of the lawsuit. “This coronavirus has really impacted our voting rights,” Spiller said. “If they’re not gerrymandering us, they’re killing us.”
Passed on April 27, Louisiana’s emergency election plan states that voters must identify an “excuse” to be eligible to vote by absentee ballot. Voters with certain underlying medical conditions that make them more vulnerable to COVID-19 or who are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms are able to vote absentee under the plan. The lawsuit seeks to permit all eligible voters who have concerns about contracting or transmitting COVID-19 to receive an absentee ballot.
The emergency election plan received criticism from some lawmakers after it was passed. Louisiana State Representative Jason Hughes (D, District 100) said he voted no because the plan’s absentee provisions failed to include the following groups: residents 60 years and older, those subject to a stay-at-home order, those unable to appear in public out of a concern of exposure or transmission to COVID-19, and those caring for a child or grandchild whose school or child care provider is closed because of the virus.
“The removal of these provisions was not driven by facts and data, rather, mistruths and politics,” Hughes said, referring to Republican lawmakers’ complaints about the potential for voter fraud despite the very low number of documented voter fraud cases in recent history.
Louisiana requires that absentee ballots must be signed by a witness to confirm the voter’s identity matches the name on the ballot. The LDF argued this requirement forces vulnerable voters to leave their home or invite others into their home to sign the ballot, increasing the likelihood for infection. One of the individual plaintiffs in the lawsuit, Jane Chandler of Baton Rouge, is 76 years old and has a lung condition. The suit states that she fears the person-to-person contact that will come from obtaining a witness’ signature.
One of the other individual plaintiffs is 33-year-old Baton Rouge resident Jasmine Pogue, a Black woman recently diagnosed with asthma. The lawsuit stated that Pogue fears her asthma would not be considered severe enough to qualify for an absentee ballot under the current rules. However, she has a history of upper respiratory infections and is afraid of the potentially fatal complications that could arise if she contracts COVID-19.
The LDF said Louisiana’s requirements are particularly hard on African Americans, who account for over 57 percent of COVID-19 deaths in Louisiana despite just making up only 32 percent of the state’s population.
“In Louisiana and dozens of other states across the country, we are seeing a stark racial disparity in COVID-19 infections and deaths,” said Zachary Morris of the LDF in a statement. “Essential workers are more likely to be Black and people of color, resulting in higher exposure levels. This reality, combined with differences in healthcare access, underlying conditions, and other disparities that result from longstanding and persistent discrimination, have created a worst possible scenario for communities of color. The state’s restrictions on absentee ballots will effectively prevent thousands of voters from being able to participate in these upcoming elections or force them to risk their lives to do so.”
The lawsuit also challenges Louisiana’s failure to extend the early voting period to fourteen days for all elections in Louisiana in 2020.
“It’s like we’re going backwards instead of forwards,” Spiller said.
This article originally published in the May 11, 2020 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
