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
Nemes v. Bensinger
Closed
Nemes v. Bensinger, No. 3:20-cv-00407 (W.D. Ky.), 2020 WL 3260994 |
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| Case Summary | After Kentucky legislators gave election officials greater flexibility to change the state’s voting laws, the election officials (Board of Elections, Governor, Secretary of State) submitted plans to curtail in-person voting, including having one polling location in the state’s largest counties. Two of these counties have 60% of the state’s Black voters. This class action complaint, filed by Republican state representatives and voters, seeks inductive and declaratory relief in the form of expanded in-person voting precincts. | |
| Filed | 06/08/2020 | |
| State | Kentucky | |
| Type of Court | Federal | |
| Circuit | Sixth Circuit | |
| Status | Closed (Plaintiff's motion for injunctive relief denied.) | |
| Last Updated | 09/01/2020 | |
| Issue Tag(s) | In-Person Voting COVID Concern (Number/Location of Polling Places, Lack of Safety Measures for In-Person Voting) | |
| Complaint(s) | 06/08/2020: Complaint filed. | |
| Dispositive Ruling(s) | 06/18/2020: Order/Ruling, The motion for restraining order and/ or injunctive relief was denied. The Court found that there was no 1st or 14th amendment violation, or a Voting Rights Act violation. The Court found that, given the totality of the circumstances and the various voting options available to voters before Election Day (including absentee voting and 15 days of early, in-person voting), there was no vote denial or vote dilution. Court found Plaintiffs failed to establish that voters of a protected class (here, chiefly Black voters) would disproportionally face burden to vote or that having only one polling place in certain counties would have a discriminatory impact. | |
| 07/17/2020: Order/Ruling, Voluntarily Dismissed. | ||
