Federal court finds election law violations in Louisiana

A federal district judge found that Louisiana violated federal election law by failing to make voter registration opportunities widely available at public assistance offices run by two state agencies.

The ruling Wednesday by U.S. District Court Judge Jane Triche Milazzo, of New Orleans, came in a lawsuit filed in early 2011 by Luther Scott and the Louisiana State Conference of the NAACP over state compliance with the National Voter Registration Act, called NVRA. Scott had not been given an opportunity to register to vote in several encounters with public assistance agencies.

“Prior to April 2011, the defendants were in violation of the NVRA mandates. Since the filing of this lawsuit, however, the defendants have made substantial progress in complying with the NVRA,” Milazzo wrote.

Milazzo gave Secretary of State Tom Schedler, state Department of Health and Hospitals Secretary Bruce Greenstein and state Department of Children and Family Services Secretary Suzy Sonnier to certify compliance to the court by March 15.

Milazzo said she would retain jurisdiction over the issue for the next year.

“Yesterday’s ruling means that Louisiana will finally be required to comply with federal law, and that the state must help our most vulnerable fellow citizens register to vote,” said Dale Ho, assistant counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

“It’s a great day in Louisiana for voting rights,” said Ernest Johnson, of Baton Rouge and national board member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Schedler said Louisiana is “doing all the right things.” He noted 84 percent of people eligible to vote in Louisiana are registered, which is the fourth highest percentage in the nation.

“The judge says that Louisiana has made substantial progress in this area,” Schedler said.

Schedler said he disagreed with Milazzo’s finding that he is responsible for the conduct in other agencies that are not under his control.

Schedler said he also disagrees with a finding that the voter registration must be offered not only in-person but those who have public assistance encounters over the Internet, by telephone or mail.

Milazzo wrote that each agency had taken steps since the lawsuit was filed, including ensuring training of employees who work in the Medicaid, food stamp and other offices get training and that procedures are in place involving voter registration.

The plaintiffs had claimed that despite high numbers of participants in Louisiana food stamp and Medicaid programs, voter registration applications from those offices have been low. They said voter registration applicants from those agencies had dropped 88 percent been 1995 and 2008.

Comments

1) Comment by mh1949 - 26/01/2013

DMJ where are you ??????

2) Comment by phil - 26/01/2013

I was not actively offered any free services like Medicaid and food stamps or free cell phones from the government so can I sue the government for not calling me up and offering them to me? Personally I think a person who cannot figure out how to register to vote and take a little personal responsibility or time to register probably should not be allowed to vote anyway. Next I guess the government will have to actually fill out the registration forms for folks who are too lazy to write.

3) Comment by zealer99 - 26/01/2013

"Louisiana will finally be required to comply with federal law, and that the state must help our most vulnerable fellow citizens register to vote, Scott had not been given an opportunity to register to vote in several encounters with public assistance agencies. 84 percent of people eligible to vote in Louisiana are registered, which is the fourth highest percentage in the nation. ." This is interesting.

4) Comment by mh1949 - 25/01/2013

Let's just start bringing the voting booth to their front doors. Heaven forbid we don't want to inconvience the poor deprived obamacrats in any way.They can't get to the voter registration office but they will crawl to the food stamp and welfare office if need be.

5) Comment by gman70726 - 25/01/2013

Let's make sure that those that are most likely to suckle from the teat of the government be given special attention to register to vote. Food Stamp and Medicaid offices; are you kidding me? We have drivers license bureaus, registrar of voters offices and the Secretary of State offices located all over the state and we have problems with these. The last time anyone looked, Medicaid and Food Stamps were federal and not state offices. One almost has to look for a way not to register these days.

6) Comment by Warp7 - 25/01/2013

Get over it right wingers, pure and simple, certain agencies in the state were not following law, now they are. No one has the right to pick and choose which laws they will follow. The problem here was some, not all agencies, were not following the law and agency policy. You had a few offices who staff were not doing their job. It may be a pain, but if is the policy, you are required to do. This rule has been in place for years!

7) Comment by Chucky - 25/01/2013

Just let anyone breathing vote and get this over with.

8) Comment by tradewinns - 25/01/2013

the height of stupidity. voter registration is available to everyone. to state that anyone's voting ability was restricted or violated is rediculious. if there was only one place in La. where you could register to vote, then it is still fair to everyone. to mandate that registration is to be made almost mandatory is ignorant. before long our idiot federal judges will make door to door solicitation for registration is the only fair way. if anyone is interested enough in voting they should be interested enough to find out where they can register and make a point of going there and registering to vote. if they're not that interested that's their choice.