Two civil rights groups will proceed with their lawsuit challenging Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz’s authority to pass emergency voting rules in the months before an election. It comes after a judge refused to dismiss the lawsuit over the weekend. Polk County Judge Scott Rosenberg said in a ruling Saturday that since there is nothing to stop the secretary of state from attempting to pass voting rules again prior to an election, the court must hear the case and resolve the issues. “If Schultz refiles these emergency rules before a future election, the same issues will arise of whether he abused the emergency rulemaking process, exceeded his statutory authority, and violated the right to vote,” Rosenberg wrote. The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa and the League of United Latin American Citizens of Iowa filed a lawsuit in August 2012 challenging two emergency rules Schultz began to enact that July, just four months before the November 2012 general election. The groups believed the rules intimidated immigrant voters, including those who may have become recent citizens, and discouraged them from going to the polls or registering to vote. One rule created a new procedure making it easier for voters to file complaints when they suspected another voter may not be eligible to cast a ballot. The second rule created a procedure for the secretary of state to identify voters who appeared not to be U.S. citizens according to Iowa Department of Transportation records, and recommend them for removal from voter registration lists. Full Article: Lawsuit challenging voting rules advances in court – SFGate.
The Voting News
A News Service of the Verified Voting Foundation
