This database consolidates and tracks litigation concerning the effect of the pandemic on election law. The purpose of this tool is to provide an interactive list of relevant cases that can be searched by issue, court, status, and jurisdiction.
Case Details
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee v. Ziriax
Closed
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee v. Ziriax, No. 4:20-cv-00211 (N.D. Okla.) |
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| Case Summary | The DCCC and the Oklahoma Democratic Party filed a complaint against the Oklahoma State Election Board challenging 4 requirements relating to state election laws as unconstitutional under the 1st and 14th amendments: (1) that by requiring many voters to leave their houses to locate notaries, witness or obtain copies of photo ID to place absentee votes, voting during a pandemic was made inaccessible to many; (2) that because Oklahoma does not provide prepaid postage on its absentee ballots, voters who mail in their absentee ballot must incur and bear a monetary burden in order for their vote to be counted (also violating the 24th amendment); (3) that discounting absentee votes received after the election day deadline, regardless of when the voter first received the ballot from elections officials, when the voter actually mailed it back, or when the ballot was postmarked, violated due process rights and (4) that the ban on organizations from collecting absentee ballots except in the case of physically incapacitated or emergency incapacitated voters violated freedom of speech. | |
| Filed | 05/18/2020 | |
| State | Oklahoma | |
| Type of Court | Federal | |
| Circuit | Tenth Circuit | |
| Status | Closed | |
| Last Updated | 03/13/2021 | |
| Issue Tag(s) | Vote-by-Mail (Witness and/or Notary Requirement, Postage Requirement, Mail Voting Deadlines (for Applying, Receiving, Postmark), Restriction on Assistance or Collection of Mail Ballots for Return, Failure to Include ID/Documentation) | |
| Complaint(s) | 05/18/2020: Complaint filed. | |
| Dispositive Ruling(s) | 08/04/2020: Order/Ruling, Motion to dismiss denied. | |
| 08/19/2020: Other, Motion for preliminary injunction filed by plaintiffs (DCCC and Oklahoma Democratic Party). | ||
| 09/17/2020: Order/Ruling, The District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma denied the plaintiff's request for injunctive relief after trial. The Court found that though COVID-19 poses significant challenges to the November 2020 general election the State of Oklahoma has given voters sufficient avenues to cast their vote in person and by mail during the pandemic. The Court affirms that the evidence and the legal precedent applicable to this case support the state's significant interest in preventing voter fraud. The gravity of the state's interest outweighs any minor inconvenience the denial of this request for injunctive relief poses on Oklahoma voters. | ||
