A record number of voting-related lawsuits were filed in 2020, and new lawsuits have continued to be filed. This tracker seeks to aggregate active, pending litigation in state and federal courts pertaining to voters’ ability to cast their ballots and have them counted. This list does not include cases pertaining to candidacy issues, ballot initiatives, or redistricting.
To date, we are tracking 82 active lawsuits in 23 states plus D.C. In 2021, at least 47 voting cases were filed in 15 states. So far in 2022, at least 24 cases have been filed in 11 states.
Recent Developments:
- In March, a federal trial court in Florida entered a permanent injunction striking down three provisions of SB 90 as unconstitutional and requiring the state to preclear future changes to its election law for the next ten years. The state appealed the decision, and on May 6, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals stayed the trial court’s order, meaning the provisions are back in effect and the preclearance requirements are paused pending the outcome of the appeal.
- In April, a Montana trial court entered a preliminary injunction enjoining enforcement of four challenged laws, finding the laws likely violate the state constitution. On May 17, the Montana Supreme Court stayed the injunction as to two provisions that eliminated same day registration and limited the ability to use student IDs as eligible forms of voter ID in the state. These laws will now be in effect for the state’s upcoming primary election.
- In a case challenging Montana’s SB 319, a state court converted an earlier preliminary injunction into a permanent injunction in February 2022, enjoining the state from enforcing the challenged provisions and finding that the challenged provisions violate the state constitution. On May 11, 2022, the State agreed not to appeal the decision, meaning the challenged provisions are now permanently blocked.
- A state court in Arizona rejected the Arizona Republican Party’s second attempt to strike down the state’s vote-by-mail system on June 9, 2022. The Arizona Republican Party has appealed.
- A federal court in Pennsylvania declined to issue relief in a case challenging the rejection of mail ballots that were missing handwritten dates in an election for judges of the Court of Common Pleas. On appeal, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the lower court’s order and directed Lehigh County to count the undated ballots for certification. On June 9, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to issue an emergency stay, meaning the Third Circuit’s order requiring that the ballots be counted remains in effect.
- A federal court in Texas struck down a law passed last year that required voters to include “wet” or original signatures on voter registration applications, finding that the law violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as well as the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. The State has appealed the district court’s decision to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.