Lee v. Virginia State Board of Elections

155 F. Supp. 3d 572, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 169701, 2015 WL 9274922
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Virginia
DecidedDecember 18, 2015
DocketCivil Action No. 3:15CV357-HEH
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 155 F. Supp. 3d 572 (Lee v. Virginia State Board of Elections) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lee v. Virginia State Board of Elections, 155 F. Supp. 3d 572, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 169701, 2015 WL 9274922 (E.D. Va. 2015).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

(Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs’ Amended Complaint)

Henry E. Hudson, United States District Judge

This is an action filed by the Democratic Party of Virginia and two affiliated democratic activists against the Virginia State Board of Elections and the Virginia Department of Elections, challenging the constitutionality of certain voting procedures that allegedly suppress core Democratic constituencies. (Am. Compl. at 2, ECF No. 36.) The underlying dispute encompasses two discrete — but closely related — facets of Virginia’s voting laws and processes. These include Virginia’s law requiring voters to show photographic identification when voting and the alleged recurring problem of long wait times to vote in some precincts. In Plaintiffs’ view, this law and alleged long lines disproportionately burden African-Americans, Latinos, young voters, and Democrats. (I'd)

[575]*575This case is presently before the Court on the Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs’ Amended Complaint (“Motion,” ECF No. 48). The Motion has two components. First, Defendants urge the Court to dismiss all claims under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, specifically, absence of Article III standing. Second, Defendants argue that the Amended Complaint should be dismissed for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). Both parties have filed extensive memoranda detailing their respective positions. The Court also granted the Public Interest Legal Foundation leave to file a brief supporting dismissal, as amicus curie. This Court heard oral argument on October 23, 2015.1 For the reasons discussed below, the Motion to Dismiss will be granted in part and denied in part.

I. BACKGROUND

The Amended Complaint contains five causes of action for which Plaintiffs seek relief. Count One alleges violations of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, 52 U.S.G § 10301(a). This claim has two strands. First, Plaintiffs allege that “[t]he voter ID law has had and, if not declared illegal and enjoined, will continue to have an adverse and disparate impact on African-American and Latino citizens of Virginia.” (Id. at 32.) Second, Plaintiffs contend that “Virginia’s long wait times to vote have had and, absent a finding that these wait times are illegal and an order directing Virginia to take the steps necessary to ensure that wait times will not abridge or deny the right to vote, will continue to have an adverse and disparate impact on African-American and Latino citizens of Virginia.” (Id.)

Count Two focuses on the requirement that voters present photographic identification. Plaintiffs maintain that the voter identification law unduly burdens the right to vote and results in disparate treatment of individuals, in violation of the First Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. (Id. at 33-35.)

Count Three, alleging partisan fencing, is a bit more nuanced.

Upon information and belief, the General Assembly, in enacting the voter ID law and failing to take action to prevent long wait times to vote from recurring, intended to suppress (that is, fence out), has suppressed, and will continue to suppress the vote of Democrats because of the way they are expected to vote. Accordingly, the voter ID law and policies that result in long wait times to vote have violated and, absent the relief requested, will continue to violate the First Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause.

(Id. at 36.)

Count Four of the Amended Complaint alleges intentional discrimination on the basis of race. Plaintiffs assert that

The voter ID law and long wait times to vote, individually and jointly, have resulted and, absent the remedies requested below, will continue to result in the abridgement and denial of the right to vote for African Americans and Latinos on account of race. Accordingly, the voter ID law and policies that result in long wait times to vote have violated and, absent the relief requested, will continue to violate the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments.

(Id. at 37.)

Lastly, Count Five alleges violations of the Twenty-Six Amendment which, pro[576]*576vides in pertinent part, that “[t]he right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by ... any State on account of age.” (Id.) Plaintiffs contend that the General Assembly’s action in enacting the voter ID law and failing to take action to reduce wait times to vote was intended, at least in part, to suppress the number of votes cast by young voters. “The voter ID law and long wait times to vote, individually and jointly, have resulted and, absent the remedies requested below, will continue to result in the abridgement and denial of the right to vote for young voters on account of age.” (Id. at 38.)

Plaintiffs seek both declaratory and in-junctive relief. They ask the Court to declare the voter ID law and the failure to adequately address long wait lines at the polls to be unconstitutional. Furthermore, they request that the Court issue a permanent injunction enjoining the Defendants and their agents, employees, and successors, and all persons acting in concert with any of them, from enforcing or giving effect to the voter ID law. Finally, they seek judicial hearings “to determine what changes must be made to prevent long wait times to vote from recurring in future elections and order that such changes be implemented and effectuated.” (Id.)

II. STANDING

Before turning to the facial sufficiency of Plaintiffs’ claims, the Court must first assess the adequacy of the parties’ Article III standing. Because Plaintiffs challenge the constitutionality of the voter ID law and long lines in multiple counts, the Court first addresses Plaintiffs’ standing to bring those claims generally. The Court will then focus on Plaintiffs’ standing to bring the intentional discrimination claims in Counts IV and V.

Under Article III of the Constitution, this Court’s power is limited to cases and controversies. As the United States Supreme Court restated in Summers v. Earth Island Institute, “the traditional role of Anglo-American courts.. .is to redress or prevent actual or imminently threatened injury to persons caused by private or official violation of law. Except when necessary in the execution of that function, courts have no charter to review and revise legislative and executive action.” 555 U.S. 488, 492, 129 S.Ct. 1142, 173 L.Ed.2d 1 (2009) (citing Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 559-60, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992)). The initial standing inquiry “requires federal courts to satisfy themselves that the plaintiff has alleged such a personal stake in the outcome of the controversy as to warrant his invocation of federal-court jurisdiction.” Id. at 493, 129 S.Ct. 1142 (internal quotation marks and citations omitted).

As the court noted further in Summers,

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Bluebook (online)
155 F. Supp. 3d 572, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 169701, 2015 WL 9274922, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lee-v-virginia-state-board-of-elections-vaed-2015.