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Stories from Around the State
October 18, 2024
The League is at the forefront of the most important federal and state cases across the United States. Here’s a list of the top five election-related legal cases you should know about this week. For case summaries, timelines, and additional information regarding our litigation practice, please visit LWV’s Legal Center. For press inquiries, email us at [email protected].
Today, Campaign Legal Center, Alabama voters and civil rights groups successfully defended naturalized Americans who were unfairly purged from Alabama’s voter rolls. A federal judge halted Alabama’s illegal and last-minute purge program, which put the freedom to vote for thousands of Alabamians in jeopardy, holding that Alabama could not systematically operate their program meant to remove voters from the rolls in the ninety days before the 2024 general election.
Today, in an important victory for Alabama voters, the Eleventh Circuit left in place a court order that temporarily blocks Alabama from prosecuting people and organizations who assist voters who are blind, disabled, or lack the ability to read or write in completing and submitting their absentee ballot applications.
Voting is a fundamental right. Yet voters with disabilities face persistent barriers to casting a ballot.
Fortunately, these barriers can be challenged under Section 208 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA), which requires that states allow people with disabilities to receive assistance in the voting process.
A coalition of civil rights, voting rights, and disability rights organizations filed a motion for a preliminary injunction asking the court to pause the state of Alabama from criminalizing the assistance of voters with their absentee ballot applications, which now may result in felony penalties of up to 20 years in prison.
Bloody Sunday refers to the day in 1965 when hundreds of civil rights activists were attacked by law enforcement while marching for Black American's right to vote. Now, Bloody Sunday is an observance where civil and voting rights advocates congregate to honor the legacy of the original foot soldiers who risked their lives for equal rights. Jubilee attendees build on the original activists’ legacies by continuing to fight for equal representation.