Andrea Bellitto & Am. Civil Rights Union v. Snipes
This text of 302 F. Supp. 3d 1335 (Andrea Bellitto & Am. Civil Rights Union v. Snipes) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.
Opinion
BETH BLOOM, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
THIS CAUSE is before the Court upon Plaintiff American Civil Rights Union's ("Plaintiff" or "ACRU") Motion for Partial Summary Judgment on Count II of the First Amended Complaint, ECF No. [117] ("ACRU's Motion"), Defendant Brenda Snipes' ("Defendant" or "Snipes") Motion for Summary Judgment as to Count II of Plaintiff's First Amended Complaint, ECF No. [145] ("Snipes' Motion"), and Snipes and Intervenor Defendant 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East's ("Intervenor Defendant" or "United") Motion for Summary Judgment on Count I of Plaintiff's *1339Amended Complaint, ECF No. [142] (the "Snipes/United Motion"). United has also filed a Motion to Exclude Opinions and Testimony of Proposed Experts, ECF No. [144] (the " Daubert Motion"). The Court has carefully reviewed the Motions, the record, all supporting and opposing filings, the exhibits attached thereto, and is otherwise fully advised in the premises. For the reasons that follow, ACRU's Motion, Snipes' Motion, and the Snipes/United Motion are denied. United's Daubert Motion is granted in part and denied in part.
I. BACKGROUND
ACRU is a non-profit corporation "which promotes election integrity, compliance with federal election laws, government transparency, and constitutional government." ECF No. [12] at ¶ 4. Snipes is the Supervisor of Elections of Broward County, Florida and has been since November 2003. United is a labor union that focuses on representing healthcare workers and those who work in healthcare facilities.1 Defendant Snipes' and Defendant-Intervenor United's Statement of Undisputed Material Facts in Support of their Motion for Summary Judgment, ECF No. [143] ("Snipes/United Count I Supporting SOF") at ¶¶ 2-3.2
A. ACRU's Initial Requests and the Commencement of this Lawsuit
On January 26, 2016, the President of ACRU, Susan A. Carleson ("Carleson"), sent a letter to Snipes notifying her that, based on ACRU's research, Broward County was "in apparent violation" of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 ("NVRA"),
On February 8, 2016, Snipes responded to ACRU's letter with a letter of her own. See ECF No. [12-2] at 1-2. Snipes' letter refuted as "implausible" the assertion that Broward County's voter rolls were filled with more voters than living persons residing in the county, advising ACRU that the State of Florida "has a statewide database" and that Broward County "adheres strictly to the State of Florida guidelines regarding management of the voter rolls."Id. The letter included two forms of certifications spanning the previous several years-"Address List Maintenance Activities" certifications and "Eligibility Records Maintenance" certifications-which it characterized as "documenting actions taken by [Snipes'] office to manage removal of voters no longer eligible to vote in Broward County."
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BETH BLOOM, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
THIS CAUSE is before the Court upon Plaintiff American Civil Rights Union's ("Plaintiff" or "ACRU") Motion for Partial Summary Judgment on Count II of the First Amended Complaint, ECF No. [117] ("ACRU's Motion"), Defendant Brenda Snipes' ("Defendant" or "Snipes") Motion for Summary Judgment as to Count II of Plaintiff's First Amended Complaint, ECF No. [145] ("Snipes' Motion"), and Snipes and Intervenor Defendant 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East's ("Intervenor Defendant" or "United") Motion for Summary Judgment on Count I of Plaintiff's *1339Amended Complaint, ECF No. [142] (the "Snipes/United Motion"). United has also filed a Motion to Exclude Opinions and Testimony of Proposed Experts, ECF No. [144] (the " Daubert Motion"). The Court has carefully reviewed the Motions, the record, all supporting and opposing filings, the exhibits attached thereto, and is otherwise fully advised in the premises. For the reasons that follow, ACRU's Motion, Snipes' Motion, and the Snipes/United Motion are denied. United's Daubert Motion is granted in part and denied in part.
I. BACKGROUND
ACRU is a non-profit corporation "which promotes election integrity, compliance with federal election laws, government transparency, and constitutional government." ECF No. [12] at ¶ 4. Snipes is the Supervisor of Elections of Broward County, Florida and has been since November 2003. United is a labor union that focuses on representing healthcare workers and those who work in healthcare facilities.1 Defendant Snipes' and Defendant-Intervenor United's Statement of Undisputed Material Facts in Support of their Motion for Summary Judgment, ECF No. [143] ("Snipes/United Count I Supporting SOF") at ¶¶ 2-3.2
A. ACRU's Initial Requests and the Commencement of this Lawsuit
On January 26, 2016, the President of ACRU, Susan A. Carleson ("Carleson"), sent a letter to Snipes notifying her that, based on ACRU's research, Broward County was "in apparent violation" of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 ("NVRA"),
On February 8, 2016, Snipes responded to ACRU's letter with a letter of her own. See ECF No. [12-2] at 1-2. Snipes' letter refuted as "implausible" the assertion that Broward County's voter rolls were filled with more voters than living persons residing in the county, advising ACRU that the State of Florida "has a statewide database" and that Broward County "adheres strictly to the State of Florida guidelines regarding management of the voter rolls."Id. The letter included two forms of certifications spanning the previous several years-"Address List Maintenance Activities" certifications and "Eligibility Records Maintenance" certifications-which it characterized as "documenting actions taken by [Snipes'] office to manage removal of voters no longer eligible to vote in Broward County."
About two months after the exchange of letters, legal representatives of ACRU contacted Snipes via telephone on April 5, 2016, "offer[ing] to set up a meeting to discuss [ACRU's] letter and inspect the requested records." Plaintiff's Statement of Undisputed Material Facts Supporting Motion for Partial Summary Judgment on Count II, ECF No. [118] ("ACRU Count II Supporting SOF") at ¶ 6. According to Snipes, during that phone call she "provided the contact information for [her] General Counsel in order to coordinate inspection and follow-up" and mentioned that there would be a cost for "technology time." Defendant Snipes' Response to Plaintiff's Statement of Material Facts, ECF No. [128] ("Snipes Count II Response SOF") at ¶ 6. ACRU asserts, however, that Snipes "refused to meet to discuss remedies and permit inspection of records[,] ... stat[ing] that she would meet with ACRU's representatives only if election officials from six other Florida counties were also present at the meeting." ACRU Count II Supporting SOF at ¶ 7 (emphasis omitted). Snipes denies that she ever refused to provide documents or allow for an inspection of records, asserting that she "explained that an inspection meeting needed to be coordinated with [General Counsel] given the threat of litigation and the fact that the caller was an attorney." Snipes Count II Response SOF at ¶ 7.
Nearly three months later, on June 27, 20164 -and apparently without any further *1341communications having taking place between ACRU and Snipes-ACRU and Andrea Bellitto ("Bellitto"),5 one of ACRU's members, initiated these proceedings, bringing two claims against Snipes under Section 8 of the NVRA. See ECF No. [1]. Under Count I of its Amended Complaint, ACRU claims that Snipes "has failed to make reasonable efforts to conduct voter list maintenance programs, in violation of Section 8 of NVRA,
B. BCSEO Records Produced throughout Discovery
Following this case's inception, the discovery conducted by the parties revolved primarily around ACRU's records requests. First, on October 31, 2016, ACRU served discovery requests on Snipes requesting admissions and responses to interrogatories regarding list maintenance activities as well as any new documents. ACRU Count II Supporting SOF at ¶ 9. In response to ACRU's discovery requests, Snipes did not produce any new documents other than the certifications she had provided with her February 8, 2016 letter, though Snipes did offer to allow an inspection of BCSEO's voter registration database. See
On January 13, 2017, ACRU conducted an in-person inspection of BCSEO's voter registration database.
On February 1, 2017, Snipes supplemented its initial response to ACRU's October 31, 2016 discovery requests. See ECF No. [111-2]. In the supplemental response, "which did not include any additional documents, [Snipes] objected to 'the production of documents dating back beyond a period of two years from the date *1342of the filing of subject Complaint' and asserted that responsive documents 'within the last two years [ ] have already been made available for public inspection and copying on January 13, 2017.' " ECF No. [126] at 2-3 (quoting ECF No. [111-2] at 3).6
On February 9, 2017, Snipes provided ACRU with two CDs containing a number of different responsive documents. See ACRU Count II Supporting SOF at ¶ 17. Additionally, on March 8, 2017, Snipes provided ACRU with amended versions of the certifications she had initially provided with her February 8, 2016 letter. See
C. BCSEO's Voter Registration and List Maintenance Procedures
Along with Snipes, BCSEO's responsibilities relating to voter registration and list maintenance are primarily carried out by Jorge Nunez ("Nunez"), BCSEO's Information Technology Director who maintains BCSEO's voter registration database; Mary Hall ("Hall"), BCSEO's Voter Services Director who helps maintain the voter rolls; and Sonia Cahuesqui ("Cahuesqui"), a voter registration clerk. Snipes/United Count I Supporting SOF at ¶¶ 4-7.
In accordance with requirements of the Florida Department of State's ("DOS") Division of Elections ("DOE"), Nunez prepares twice-yearly certifications summarizing Snipes' list maintenance activities, which are in turn signed and certified by Snipes and then provided to DOE.
With respect to voter registration generally, BCSEO asserts that, like most other Florida counties, Broward County uses a voter registration database system commonly referred to as the "VR System" that was developed by VR Systems, Inc. ("VR Systems"), an outside vendor with which BCSEO contracts.
In total, between January 1, 2014 and December 31, 2016, Snipes removed approximately 240,028 registrants from Broward County's voter rolls.
1. Procedures Relating to Residence Changes
According to Snipes, BCSEO uses the following three mailings-all of which are conducted by Commercial Printers-to identify and update or remove voters from the Broward County voter rolls when voters have changed residence: (1) notifications to voters who have filed a forwarding address with the United States Postal Service ("USPS"); (2) mailings related to voting matters to all registrants in the county; and (3) targeted mailings to registrants who have not voted for a certain period of time.7
BCSEO certifications produced by Snipes reflect that Snipes utilized information received from USPS's National Change of Address ("NCOA") program as part of her list-maintenance activities in 2009, 2011, 2013, and 2015.8
*13442. Procedures Relating to Deceased Voters
On a daily basis, DOE provides Snipes through FVRS with a verified electronic list of voters who have recently died.
3. Procedures Related to Duplicate Registrations and Felony Convictions
On a daily basis, BCSEO receives notifications of potential duplicate registrations from DOE via FVRS, and then consolidates the registration so that only one registration is active.
Similarly, on a daily basis, BCSEO also receives an electronic list of individuals with a felony conviction from DOE.
4. Procedures Related to Non-Citizens
Like the National Voter Registration Form, Florida's voter registration form requires applicants to affirm their citizenship under penalty of perjury.
II. LEGAL STANDARDS
A. Expert Testimony
Federal Rule of Evidence 702 governs the admissibility of expert testimony. When a party proffers the testimony of an expert under Rule 702, the party offering the expert testimony bears the burden of laying the proper foundation, and that party must demonstrate admissibility by a preponderance of the evidence. See Rink v. Cheminova, Inc. ,
*1345Allison v. McGhan Med. Corp. ,
An expert in this Circuit may be qualified "by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education." J.G. v. Carnival Corp. ,
When determining whether an expert's testimony is reliable, "the trial judge must assess whether the reasoning or methodology underlying the testimony is scientifically valid and whether that reasoning or methodology properly can be applied to the facts in issue." Frazier ,
The final element, helpfulness, turns on whether the proffered testimony "concern[s] matters that are beyond the understanding of the average lay person."
*1346Edwards v. Shanley ,
Under Daubert , a district court must take on the role of gatekeeper, but this role "is not intended to supplant the adversary system or the role of the jury." Quiet Tech. ,
B. Summary Judgment
A court may grant a motion for summary judgment "if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). The parties may support their positions by citation to the record, including, inter alia , depositions, documents, affidavits, or declarations. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c). An issue is genuine if "a reasonable trier of fact could return judgment for the non-moving party." Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Fla. v. United States ,
The moving party shoulders the initial burden to demonstrate the absence of a genuine issue of material fact. See *1347Shiver v. Chertoff ,
A district court's disposition of cross-motions for summary judgment, like the cross-motions filed with respect to Count II in this case, employs the same legal standards applied when only one party files a motion. See United States v. Oakley ,
III. DISCUSSION
With this backdrop in mind, United moves for summary judgment on Count I (ACRU's claim for failure to make reasonable efforts to conduct voter list maintenance programs), and ACRU and Snipes, respectively, move for summary judgment on Count II (ACRU's claim for failure to disclose). In addition, United moves to strike ACRU's two proposed expert witnesses who it appears will, if allowed, offer testimony that supports ACRU's claim under Count I. The Court will therefore address ACRU's Daubert Motion first, and will then turn to the parties' respective motions for summary judgment.
A. United's Daubert Motion11
United seeks to exclude ACRU's proposed experts, Dr. Steven Camarota ("Dr. Camarota") and Scott Gessler ("Gessler"), on the bases that both are unqualified to offer any opinion in this case and that the entirety of their respective opinions is unreliable, speculative, and/or unhelpful. For the most part, the Court disagrees.12
*13481. Dr. Camarota
United challenges the testimony of Dr. Camarota under the first two elements of Daubert -that is, qualifications and reliability. In United's view, because Dr. Camarota "is not versed in voter registration policy and is not a statistician, he is [ ] wholly unqualified to offer an opinion-let alone an expert opinion-on the issues in dispute in this case." ECF No. [144] at 2. United's assessment, however, misconstrues the primary purpose for which ACRU seeks to introduce Dr. Camarota's testimony and, in turn, understates Dr. Camarota's credentials to that effect. As ACRU correctly points out, the essence of Dr. Camarota's expert opinion is an assessment, based in part on data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau, of the ratio in Broward County of the total number of registered voters to the voting-eligible citizen population as a whole, compared to the same ratios elsewhere in Florida and throughout the country. See id. at 34 ("Taken at face value, these numbers indicate that nearly every eligible person in Broward County is registered to vote.... In sum, the registration rates for Broward County ... are much higher than the rates in Florida, the nation, and any other state."). It is with this specific purpose in mind that the Court will measure the qualifications of Dr. Camarota and the reliability of his testimony.
Regarding qualifications, Dr. Camarota received a master's degree in political science from the University of Pennsylvania and a doctorate in public policy analysis from the University of Virginia. While completing his doctorate, Dr. Camarota "was focused on analysis of primarily Census Bureau data ... looking at ... issues associated with U.S. immigration." Id. at 70. Dr. Camarota is currently the Director of Research for the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS)-a research institute that focuses on examining the consequences of immigration on the United States-where he has worked since completing his doctorate. Notably, Dr. Camarota has previously served as an expert witness in a number of lawsuits, at least one of which required him to analyze "population estimates and Census Bureau data[.]" See id. at 80-81. Dr. Camarota has also "served as the lead researcher on a contract with the Census Bureau examining the quality of immigration data in the [Census Bureau's] American Community Survey [ ("ACS") ]." Id. at 27. As is evident, Dr. Camarota has extensive experience and familiarity with analyzing data provided by the Census Bureau, including the Census Bureau's ACS. In light of that experience, the Court is satisfied that Dr. Camarota is at least minimally qualified. See Furmanite ,
That said, Dr. Camarota's lack of statistical expertise is relevant insofar as Dr. Camarota intends to take his voter registration rates a step further by testifying as to their overall accuracy. In defending Dr. Camarota's qualifications, ACRU initially contends that his testimony "is simply what the publically available data, including statements by the Defendant herself, show the ratio of registrants over eligible voters to be. " Id. at 16 (emphasis added). But even ACRU recognizes that Dr. Camarota intends to testify to more than that. See id. (characterizing the "subject matter" of Dr. Camarota's testimony as "repeating publically available registration and demographic data and why they are reliable ") (emphasis added). This concern with the reliability of the voter registration rates speaks to opinions offered by United's expert, Dr. Daniel A. Smith ("Dr. Smith"). Dr. Smith asserts that population counts from the ACS should not be used to calculate registration rates because the ACS, being a survey, contains sampling error. See ECF No. [150] at 9-10. In an effort to rebut that position, Dr. Camarota opines that the margins of error for the ACS estimates are easily quantifiable and small, thereby rendering the ACS estimates accurate overall. See ECF No. [144] at 34-35. Dr. Camarota may be right about this, but the statistical nature of this opinion, which is obvious, renders it beyond the scope of his expertise. See id. at 9 ("[A] survey's natural imprecision can be quantified using basic statistics to produce a confidence interval around any particular estimate.... Table 2 and Table 3 report confidence intervals using margins of error at different significance levels. The margins of error are small, and subsequently the variation in likely registrations rates in the county is also small.") (emphasis added). Thus, although Dr. Camarota is qualified to offer testimony as to the purported voter registration rates he has compiled (e.g., presenting the figures themselves and comparing them to similar figures related to other localities), he is not qualified to offer testimony as to the degree of accuracy of those rates-a statistical inquiry. See, e.g. , IMPACT v. Firestone ,
Turning to reliability, United challenges the reliability of Dr. Camarota's testimony by attacking the methods he employed to calculate the voter registration rates and, to an extent, some of the underlying data upon which he relied for those calculations. See ECF No. [144] at 16-19. United asserts: "Simply put, the analysis used by [ ] Dr. Camarota ... compares different sets of numbers reflecting different periods of time, which therefore are not at all comparable."Id. at 19. The Court does not share United's reliability concerns.
First, United calls into question the reliability of Dr. Camarota's testimony on the basis that there is no evidence that Dr. Camarota's methodology has been subject to peer review, used by other statisticians, or involves reliable, recognized statistical techniques. Id. at 16. With respect to peer review and use by other statisticians, the Court does not find the absence of such to be dispositive under the circumstances. See Am. Gen. Life Ins. Co. v. Schoenthal Family, LLC ,
As for the purported lack of recognized statistical techniques in Dr. Camarota's methodology, there is a presumption that the data sets used by Dr. Camarota-particularly the Census Bureau's ACS voting-eligible population estimates-are accurate and involve reliable statistical techniques. See, e.g. , Johnson v. DeSoto Cty. Bd. of Comm'rs ,
[W]e would [ ] uphold the district court's consideration of the citizenship statistics, even though those statistics are based on sample data. The use of sample data is a long-standing statistical technique, whose limits are known and measurable. We will not reject the citizenship statistics solely because they are based on sample data without some indication that the sample was tainted in some way. There were no arguments before the district court that the sample was skewed in a statistically significant way due to improper sampling method, small sample size, or sheer random error.
Negron ,
Second, United argues that Dr. Camarota's comparison of the EAVS registration number to the ACS population estimate is flawed because it compares "a registration number at a single point in time when registration rates are highest to an average population number over a five-year period." ECF No. [144] at 18 (emphasis in original). Regarding that five-year period, Dr. Camarota's "five-year" ACS data-which include five-year estimates reported in 2010, 2012, and 2014-reflects information collected during the five-year period of time that ends in the respective reporting year that is then "totaled back and weighted to a midyear control point." See
Based on the foregoing, the Court concludes that the testimony Dr. Camarota seeks to offer is admissible, but with one qualification. Dr. Camarota may testify as to the voter registration rates that he has calculated (as reflected in his expert report), but he may not testify as to the degree of accuracy of those rates.
2. Gessler
After reviewing Florida's law on voter list maintenance and the evidence in this case related to the voter list maintenance practices utilized by BCSEO, see ECF No. [144] at 4-12, Gessler opines that Snipes "has not ... taken reasonable steps to address well-known or easily identified problems with its list maintenance programs[,]" including "[b]loated voter rolls"-which "serve as a warning sign that problems exist"-and the presence of deceased voters on the voter rolls, id. at 49, ¶¶ 42, 45; id. at 55, ¶ 75. Gessler concludes his proposed expert report with recommendations of "reasonable steps Broward County should take in order to develop a general program and maintain the accuracy of the county voter rolls." Id. at 57, ¶ 87. United challenges the testimony of Gessler on all three prongs of Daubert .
Turning first to qualifications, Gessler's general credentials include a law degree from the University of Michigan and an M.B.A. from Northwestern University. Id. at 38, ¶ 4. More pertinent to the issues involved in this case, Gessler served as Colorado's Secretary of State from January 2011 to January 2015. Id. at 39, ¶ 5. In that capacity, Gessler was Colorado's chief election officer, a position that required him to oversee election officials in Colorado counties, review the election practices and procedures of Colorado counties, maintain the voter database and voter registration systems for Colorado, and maintain Colorado's voter rolls. Id. Additionally, Gessler handled "statewide coordination and compliance with all federal election laws, including the [NVRA] [and] the [HAVA]...." Id. Gessler details in his expert report his experience in identifying, creating, and implementing list maintenance policies and practices as well as his experience identifying and responding to perceived deficient policies and practices related to the voter registration lists he oversaw-including responding to the threat of a lawsuit alleging noncompliance with Section 8 of the NVRA. See generally id. at 39, ¶¶ 9-10.
Despite the particular experiences of Gessler as the chief elections officer of Colorado, United argues that Gessler "is unsuited to provide an expert opinion in this case." Id. at 3. The primary rationale for that argument is that Gessler "lacks any knowledge of Broward County's voting registration policy or voter roll maintenance, the voting policy of any state other than Colorado, or the implementation of such policy at the county level[.]" Id. at 2-3. United elaborates that, "[e]xcluding his preparation for this case, Mr. Gessler has little-if any-knowledge of Florida's or Broward County's voter registration and voter roll maintenance systems[,]" and emphasizes that in Colorado, "the duty of implementing election policy belongs to the state's counties." Id. at 9. Nevertheless, the Court finds that Gessler is at least minimally qualified to offer an expert opinion in this case (with one caveat, as explained below) given the apparent overlap between his unique experiences as Colorado's Secretary of State and the issues in this case. Most notably, Gessler's knowledge and expertise in the field of voter roll list maintenance are tied directly to the same federal standard under the NVRA with which Snipes is required to comply. In the Court's view, the particular concerns *1353raised by United speak to the level of Gessler's expertise, and therefore the weight to be afforded his opinions. See Fed. R. Evid. 702 (basing qualifications on a proposed expert's "knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education"); Frazier ,
That said, the Court notes that like Dr. Camarota's expert report, Gessler's expert report compares Census Bureau ACS data with EAVS data to support some of the opinions stated therein, such as the following: "An unusually high percentage of registered voters serves as one of the main indicators that a jurisdiction does not take reasonable steps to maintain voter registration lists. Broward County is a classic example of a jurisdiction that has alarmingly high voter registration rates...." ECF No. [144] at 49, ¶ 43. The Court is not convinced that Gessler has the requisite expertise in analyzing this kind of data to offer opinions that make assessments as to Broward County's voter registration rates. By comparison, ACRU has shown that Dr. Camarota has extensive experience in analyzing Census Bureau data, like the ACS, and other population related data. No comparable showing has been made with respect to Gessler, a lawyer by trade. Thus, although Gessler is certainly qualified to offer opinions concerning the specific list maintenance policies and procedures utilized (and not utilized) by Snipes, the Court does not find that he is qualified to offer data-driven opinions relating to Broward County's voter registration rates.
With respect to reliability, United contends: "No clear methodology is discernible from Mr. Gessler's opinion. He appears to have arrived at his conclusions by simply applying his personal knowledge of Colorado's voter registration system at the state level and his review of Florida law to the information about Broward County found in documents produced and the data sources generated for this case." Id. at 10. Importantly, United's reliability attacks focus almost entirely on Gessler's opinions concerning Broward County's voter registration rates-a subject that in any event Gessler is unqualified to testify about. See, e.g. , id. at 10 (describing Gessler's methodology as "rel[ying] on two data sets drawn from calculations and analysis of population statistics"); id. at 11 (emphasizing that "Mr. Gessler is not a statistician[,]" "has little familiarity with EAVS data[,]" and "has no basis for determining at what level a registration rate becomes potentially problematic"); id. at 16 (collectively addressing "Dr. Camarota's and Mr. Gessler's methodology" by noting, among other things, that "the methodology used in both reports" lacks evidence of an "error rate" and "reliable, recognized statistical techniques"); id. at 17 (stating that "Dr. Camarota's and Mr. Gessler's methodology consists of a flawed comparison between dissimilar data points"). The only discernible challenge by United as to the reliability of Gessler's opinions concerning the list maintenance policies and procedures employed by Snipes-a subject that Gessler is qualified to testify about-is that Gessler "[cites] no comparative studies of state voter registration systems, no national guidelines, and no widely accepted best practices ... [and offers] no explanation of how his limited Colorado experience suffices as support for his opinions on Broward *1354County's practices." Id. at 14. However, the Court finds that Gessler's testimony is sufficiently reliable based "upon [his] personal knowledge [and] experience." Kumho ,
Finally, United argues that Gessler's testimony will not assist the factfinder, but will instead "improperly usurp[ ] the role of the fact-finder." ECF No. [144] at 19. Specifically, United suggests that Gessler has merely weighed the evidence in this case by "review[ing] only the documents and sources of data prepared for or generated by this litigation, and evaluat[ing] the veracity of statements made by Dr. Snipes and other witnesses regarding Broward County's voter registration and voter roll maintenance practices."
However, as United correctly points out, Gessler also provides an opinion on the ultimate legal question raised by ACRU's claim under Count I. See ECF No. [144] at 41, ¶ 12 (opining that Snipes "has failed to conduct a general program and has failed to take reasonable steps to maintain the accuracy of the county voter rolls"). Gessler is precluded from giving testimony that ultimately states legal conclusions. See Cordoves v. Miami-Dade County ,
Based on the foregoing, the Court concludes that the testimony Gessler seeks to offer is admissible, so long as that testimony does not relate to Broward County's voter registration rates or to any legal conclusions.
B. Summary Judgment Motions
1. Claim for Failure to Make Reasonable Efforts to Conduct Voter List Maintenance Programs (Count I)
*1355a. The Snipes/United Motion14
"Congress' stated purposes in enacting the NVRA were, inter alia , 'to establish procedures that will increase the number of eligible citizens who register to vote in elections for Federal office; ... [and] to ensure that accurate and current voter registration rolls are maintained.' " A. Philip Randolph Inst. v. Husted ,
Subsection (a) of Section 8 states that "[i]n the administration of voter registration for elections for Federal office, each State shall ... provide that the name of a registrant may not be removed from the official list of eligible voters except" under certain circumstances.
Finally, as noted by the Sixth Circuit in Husted , "in subsection (c)(1) of Section 8, Congress provided states with an example of a procedure for identifying and removing voters who had changed residence that would comply with the NVRA's mandates and accompanying constraints. That subsection provides that '[a] State may meet the requirement of subsection (a)(4) by establishing a program under which' voters who appear to have moved based on information contained in the NCOA database are sent subsection (d) confirmation notices."15
As a preliminary matter, both Snipes and United initially raised the safe-harbor provision when they previously moved to dismiss Count I. See Bellitto v. Snipes ,
As the Sixth Circuit explained in Husted , "Section 8's language pairs the mandate that states maintain accurate voter rolls with multiple constraints on how the states may go about doing so."
Here, with no authority having been presented to suggest otherwise, this Court holds that although an election official's particular NCOA process for identifying and removing voters who have changed their residence is "permissible under the NVRA" if it mirrors the safe-harbor provision outlined in subsection (c)(1) of Section 8, such a process does not necessarily demonstrate full satisfaction of all the duties owed by that election official under subsection (a)(4).
Compliance with Section 8's safe-harbor provision aside, Snipes and United also move for summary judgment on Count I on the basis that the undisputed facts definitively establish that Snipes' removal program is "reasonable under the statutory standard."16 ECF No. [142] at 13. Snipes and United emphasize the evidence pertaining to all of the list maintenance activities that Snipes employs, and those activities are undoubtedly extensive. See id. at 14-15 (e.g., receiving and acting on daily updates from DOE; soliciting responses from registrants with felony convictions; reviewing and consolidating registration records identified as duplicates; employing specific procedures for registrants who appear to have died). Snipes and United further contend that "[t]he objective results of Defendant's general program and list maintenance activities demonstrate that her program has a real, substantial outcome in terms of the removal of registrants deemed ineligible". They point out that Snipes removed from the Broward County voter rolls over 240,000 registrants between January 1, 2014 and December 31, 2016, and 192,000 registrants between January 7, 2015 and January 10, 2017. Id. at 15.
Notwithstanding the extensiveness of Snipes' removal efforts and the substantial amount of removals that those efforts have resulted in, ACRU has presented admissible evidence-by way of the analyses of Dr. Camarota-of very high voter registration rates in Broward County compared to voter registration rates throughout the country. See ECF No. [144] at 26-36. In some instances, according to Dr. Camarota, Broward County has had more or close to the same amount of persons registered to vote as it has had voting-age citizens in total. See id. at 33-4 (calculating rates in Broward County at 108.5% in 2010 and 96.7% in 2014, and opining that, "[t]aken at face value, these numbers indicate that nearly every eligible person in Broward County is registered to vote"). As for the voter registration rates nationally and in Florida as a whole, according to Dr. Camarota's expert report: "Nationally, the [Census] Bureau reported 65.1% of voting-age citizens were registered in 2010, 71.2% were registered in 2012 (a presidential election year), and 64.6% in 2014. In Florida as a whole, the corresponding figures for these same years were 63%, 68.3%, and 62.6%." Id. at 34. Of course, Dr. Smith-Snipes and United's expert witness-claims that Dr. Camarota's analyses are misleading. But, in addressing whether Snipes and United are entitled to summary judgment on Count I, the Court must accept the evidence provided by ACRU, the non-movant, and draw all reasonable inferences in its favor. See *1358Montgomery v. Noga ,
Ultimately, taking ACRU's evidence as true, the voter registration rates extrapolated from Broward County's voter rolls at the very least create a reasonable inference that Snipes, despite all of the stated list maintenance efforts she has undertaken, has failed to meet the reasonableness requirement under subsection (a)(4) of Section 8. See, e.g. , Martinez-Rivera ,
2. Claim for Failure to Disclose (Count II)
Subsection 8(i)(1) of the NVRA mandates public disclosure of all records related to voter registration and list-maintenance activities. It provides in relevant part as follows: "Each State shall maintain for at least 2 years and shall make available for public inspection ... all records concerning the implementation of programs and activities conducted for the purpose of ensuring the accuracy and currency of official lists of eligible voters...."
In moving for summary judgment on Count II, ACRU argues that Snipes has failed to comply with this public disclosure mandate by failing to provide or make available for inspection the following categories of documents it requested in its January 26, 2016 letter:
(1) updated registration data since the publication of information reported by the EAC for 2014 from the 2014 EAC Report;
(2) the number of notices sent to inactive voters since the publication of *1359the 2014 EAC Report, including the date, scope, and contents of any mailing sent to all ("not just [ ] active") registered voters;
(3) the total number of voters registered in Broward County as of the date of any response;
(4) any records indicating the use of citizenship or immigration status for list maintenance activities; and
(5) all list maintenance records including federal voter registration forms containing citizenship eligibility questionnaires for the previous 22 months, which, according to ACRU, contemplates the following: (a) copies of all invoices and statements from any outside vendors Snipes works with in doing list maintenance mailings; (b) records of complaints received regarding list maintenance issues; (c) communications from and to the DOS office; (d) records related to USPS NCOA database requests and usage; and (e) a current list of all registered voters (active and inactive).
ECF No. [117] at 14-15. Snipes counters in her motion for summary judgment on Count II by emphasizing that "thousands of public records have been produced" to ACRU thus far, and further claiming that "there are no documents requested and available from Defendant Snipes that has not already been provided." ECF No. [145] at 2-3. The Court will address each motion and their respective arguments in turn.
As a preliminary matter, however, insofar as ACRU seeks under Count II a declaration from the Court that Snipes has violated the public disclosure requirement under subsection 8(i)(1) of the NVRA, see generally ECF No. [12] at 9 (praying for a declaration "that Defendant is in violation of Section 8 of the NVRA"), the Court considers the operative time period to be the time between ACRU's January 26, 2016 letter and the filing of this suit on June 27, 2016. Under
a. ACRU's Motion
At the outset, the Court notes that ACRU's Motion is premised on Snipes' alleged failure to provide records throughout the course of this litigation. See ECF No. [117] at 14-15. With that in mind, the Court makes a seemingly obvious but nevertheless important-indeed dispositive-observation. In support of its motion for summary judgment, ACRU cites to Project Vote/Voting for America, Inc. v. Long ,
In relying on Long and Kemp , ACRU appears to imply that Snipes has withheld the production of certain relevant records on the bases that such records either exceed the NVRA's two-year retention period or are stored only in electronic form. ECF No. [117] at 13. More specifically, ACRU asserts as follows:
The same reasoning [in Long ] should apply to the two-year retention requirement. That is a floor, not a ceiling. If an election official maintains records for longer than two years, they must be subject to disclosure.
Finally, electronic records housed within databases are also subject to the public disclosure and inspection provisions of the NVRA. To the extent that any records that have not been disclosed by Defendant Snipes are housed electronically, they are subject to the NVRA's disclosure provision.
Importantly, the distinction illuminates what amounts to a factual dispute that is material with respect to the injunctive relief ACRU seeks under Count II-that is, an injunction "commanding Defendant to permit inspections of election records pursuant to
Accordingly, the Court is satisfied that, with respect to ACRU's Motion on Count II, Snipes has raised a material issue of fact as to whether she has, throughout the course of this litigation, sufficiently provided all of the records requested by ACRU as required under Section 8(i)(1) so as to potentially render moot ACRU's request for an injunction requiring Snipes to substantively and completely respond to its written request for records.
b. Snipes' Motion
The Court begins with another obvious observation. Inexplicably, despite aptly describing the material issue of fact outlined above as a "tremendous factual dispute" in arguing against ACRU's Motion, ECF No. [129] at 6, Snipes makes an about-face in her own motion for summary judgment, asserting that "there are no genuine issues of material fact related to Count II[,]" ECF No. [145] at 1-2. As mentioned, Snipes claims that she has provided *1363all of the records requested by ACRU. According to Snipes, ACRU has "attempt[ed] to 'game' the NVRA law by seeking and pursuing less [sic] information than is actually available and then claiming that Snipes is somehow negligent in her duty to produce documents." ECF No. [145] at 3. Overall, Snipes' Motion does not alter the Court's view that Count II is not without at least one genuine issue of material fact.
First, with respect to the interactions that occurred prior to the commencement of this suit, Snipes asserts that following ACRU's January 26, 2016 letter, "[a]t no time did [she] refuse to provide documents or allow for an inspection of documents." Id. at 6. This assertion speaks to the phone call that took place between Snipes and ACRU's legal representative on April 5, 2016. See generally ECF No. [12] at ¶ 24 (alleging that on the April 5, 2016 phone call Snipes "declined to set up [ ] a meeting" to discuss remedial steps and the current status of the voter rolls). According to Snipes, during that phone call she "provided the contact information for [her] General Counsel in order to coordinate inspection and follow-up." ECF No. [145] at 6 (citing ECF No. [129-2] at 2-3). According to ACRU's counsel, however, the phone call went as follows:
I just got off the phone with Brenda Snipes. The general theme of the call was "why are you singling out Broward when you sent letters to 6 other counties." She even said that Miami-Dade has more people. That aside, she declined to meet with us to discuss only Broward. She said she would meet only if representatives from the other 6 counties were included.
ECF No. [131-1] at 3 (emphasis added); see also ECF No. [118-1] at 3, ¶ 12 ("Defendant refused to meet to discuss remedies and permit inspection of records. Defendant Snipes suggested that ACRU should focus on Miami-Dade County instead....") (emphasis added). But Snipes denies that she ever refused to provide documents or allow for an inspection. See ECF No. [129-2] at 3, ¶¶ 7-8. As ACRU correctly points out, then, "[t]he characterization of that phone call differs profoundly between the parties...." ECF No. [157] at 10. Importantly, the nature of that phone call is germane to ACRU's claim under Count II, as the Amended Complaint specifically alleges under Count II that Snipes "failed to produce or otherwise failed to make records available.... [and] rebuffed efforts to meet to discuss and implement remedial plans to cure this violation." ECF No. [12] at ¶ 33. Relatedly, ACRU argues that Snipes' February 8, 2016 letter in response to ACRU's January 26, 2016 letter, which only provided to ACRU certain certifications, constituted a "less-than-complete response to ACRU's record request." ECF No. [157] at 11. Given that Snipes has since produced thousands of more records throughout discovery in response to ACRU's initial requests in the January 26, 2016 letter, such an inference is far from unreasonable. In any event, whether Snipes' initial response in her February 8, 2016 letter and her alleged refusal to arrange a meeting with ACRU during the April 5, 2016 phone call-both occurring before this suit was ever filed-would constitute an insufficient response for purposes of Section 8's public disclosure requirement remains a material issue of fact to be determined at trial.19
*1364Second, with respect to the discovery conducted as part of this litigation, Snipes asserts that "[a]ny documents that Plaintiff believes it does not have are a part of the VR System for which Plaintiff has not performed any due diligence to understand." ECF No. [145] at 3. Snipes then elaborates on how ACRU, in making "little effort to determine how the VR System stores computer documents relating to NVRA[,]" has elected not to "take depositions of anybody associated with the computer system operations" (such as Nunez) and declined to "conduct a computer inspection of the VR System containing a great majority of the records related to NVRA disclosure requirements" at the January 13, 2017 inspection, despite having the opportunity to do so. Id. at 3-4. Implicit in Snipes' focus on records stored electronically in the VR System is the notion that Snipes is not required to (perhaps because she is unable to) produce such records.20 See id. at 3 (citing ECF No. [111-2] at 8); see also ECF No. [111-2] at 8 (Snipes' objection to ACRU's request for production relating to written policies and manuals: "[U]ser guides are contained within the VR System for which the VR System third party contracted vendor considers confidential and proprietary information requiring court intervention for a final determination. ") (emphasis in original). However, Snipes does not cite to any supporting case law, nor has the Court found any, to indicate that records stored within the database of a third party whom a NVRA records holder contracts with necessarily fall outside the scope of Section 8's public disclosure requirement.
Finally, Snipes asserts that ACRU abandoned the requests it made in its January 26, 2016 letter when it filed suit, apparently because ACRU has since "[taken] no effort to request or clarify documents that were referenced and a part of [the letter]." ECF No. 145 at 8. Snipes once again argues that "the letter was deficient in its request for documents that would require creation (not in existence)" and further argues, without supporting authority, that "NVRA's 'public disclosure' of voter registration activities requirement relates to records that are actually in existence." Id. However, as already discussed, for purposes of the injunction sought by ACRU under Count II, the Court will not weigh at the summary judgment stage the competing interpretations as to whether ACRU's requests sought documents not in existence or were otherwise unclear in nature.
Based on the foregoing, the Court finds that neither ACRU nor Snipes has demonstrated through their respective motions that they are entitled to judgment as a matter of law with respect to Count II. To sum up, and for the sake of clarity moving forward, there exists a genuine factual issue as to whether Snipes indeed refused during the April 5, 2016 phone call to arrange a meeting with ACRU for an inspection of BCSEO's office and records, as ACRU alleges. If true, Snipes' pre-suit refusal along with her initial production of BCSEO certifications in her February 8, 2016 response letter-only to be followed by her production of thousands of admittedly responsive documents after this suit was filed-could support a finding that *1365Snipes did violate the NVRA's public disclosure requirement under subsection 8(i)(1) before this suit was filed. See
IV. CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, it is ORDERED AND ADJUDGED as follows:
1. ACRU's Motion, ECF No. [117] , is DENIED .
2. Snipes' Motion, ECF No. [145] , is DENIED .
a. ACRU's Motion to Strike Defendant Brenda Snipes's Partial Motion for Summary Judgment on Count II, ECF No. [149] , is DENIED as moot .21
3. The Snipes/United Motion, ECF No. [142] , is DENIED .
a. Snipes and United's Motion to Strike Plaintiff's Summary Judgment Evidence, ECF No. [164] , is DENIED as moot .22
4. United's Daubert Motion, ECF No. [144] , is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part , as set forth in this Order.
DONE and ORDERED in Miami, Florida, this 11th day of July, 2017.
Related
Cite This Page — Counsel Stack
302 F. Supp. 3d 1335, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/andrea-bellitto-am-civil-rights-union-v-snipes-flsd-2017.