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
NAACP Penn. State Conference v. Boockvar
Closed
NAACP Pennsylvania State Conference v. Boockvar, No. 364-MD-2020 (Penn. Commonw. Ct.) |
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| Case Summary | Plaintiff NAACP Pennsylvania State Conference sued Pennsylvania's Secretary of State and Director of the Bureau of Election Services and Notaries ("State Defendants"). It alleges that Pennsylvania's election laws and practices during the pandemic severely burden the right to vote and disproportionately burden African-American and Latino voters in violation of Article I, sec. 5 of the Pennsylvania Constitution. It further alleges Pennsylvania's election laws and pratices, including reducing polling places and restricting access to mail-in and early voting disporportionately burden some but not other voters in violation of Article I, sections 1 and 26 of the Pennsylvania Constitution. It seeks injunctive relief that defendants be required to maintain a sufficient number of polling places, give adequate notice to voters of any change in polling places through mail, permit early voting for the General Election, increase access to vote by mail, and use hand-marked paper ballots for the General Election in all polling places while retaining at least one accessible voting machine per polling place for those who request one and as required by federal law. | |
| Filed | 06/18/2020 | |
| State | Pennsylvania | |
| Type of Court | State | |
| Status | Closed | |
| Last Updated | 03/13/2021 | |
| Issue Tag(s) | Vote-by-Mail (Notice/Cure for Mismatches Missing Signature or Mistakes, Failure to Mail Ballots w/out Application to All Registered Voters, Failure to Provide Vote-by-Mail Accommodations for Voters with Disabilities) In-Person Voting COVID Concern (Number/Location of Polling Places, Lack of Safety Measures for In-Person Voting, Early Voting Availability/Dates) |
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| Complaint(s) | 06/18/2020: Complaint filed. | |
| Dispositive Ruling(s) | 09/11/2020: Order/Ruling, The court denied NAACP's petition for a mandatory preliminary injunction on the grounds that the NAACP failed to meet the standard for a preliminary injunction. In particular, the NAACP failed to prove that absent the requested mandatory preliminary injunction relief the NAACP and/or it's members would likely suffer immediate and irrepable harm. This conclusion was based on a failure to show that the difficulties of the June Primary election would reoocur in Novembers, especially the consolidation of polling places. | |
