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
Davis v. Wayne County Election Commission
Closed
Davis v. Wayne County Election Commission, No. 2:20-cv-11819 (E.D. Mich.) |
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| Case Summary | Plaintiffs brought an action against the Wayne County Election Commission and individual county and City of Detroit officials claiming that the Commission had certified the Defendant Jones to appear on the ballot as a candidate for US Congress for the 13th Congressional District despite the fact that she failed to file multiple campaign finance reports/statements required by Michigan law to be filed prior to certification. Plaintiff claims these actions violated his 14th Amendment equal protection rights, retaliated against him for exercising his 1st Amendment right to political association and supporting Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the incumbent for the 13th Congressional District, and violated Michigan Elections Laws.The plaintiffs also claimed that the City of Detroit defendants denied the plaintiff access to the absentee voter application list and sent out the absentee ballot voter applications to all register voters. Normally the application list is publicly viewable at the clerk's office as required by Michigan Election law, but the offices were closed due to the COVID pandemic. Plaintiff argues that denying him access due to the office closure and sending out the absentee ballot applications before he could review violated his procedural due process rights. He also seeks a writ of mandamus compelling the city clerk to allow daily public access to the application list as required by Michigan law. | |
| Filed | 07/06/2020 | |
| State | Michigan | |
| Type of Court | Federal | |
| Circuit | Sixth Circuit | |
| Status | Closed | |
| Last Updated | 03/13/2021 | |
| Issue Tag(s) | Vote-by-Mail (Other Vote-by-Mail Issue) Access to absentee voter application list; certification of candidate that failed to meet filing reqs. |
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| Complaint(s) | 07/06/2020: Complaint filed. | |
| Dispositive Ruling(s) | 07/08/2020: Order/Ruling, Court denied supplemental jurisdiction as to the state law claims (counts III, IV, VI, VII), leaving only the plaintiff's Equal Protection, 1st Amendment Retaliation, and Procedural Due Process claims. The court terminated plaintiff Venias Jordan and multiple Wayne County and City of Detroit defendants because they were only party to the state law claims. The court also terminated defendant Jones because no cause of action was leveled against her in the case. Finally the Court denied as moot the plaintiffs motion for expedited adjudication of their motion for summary judgment regarding counts III and IV because supplemental jurisdiction over these claims had been denied. | |
| 12/15/2020: Order/Ruling, The court denied plaintiffs motions and dismissed the case with prejudice, for failure to state a claim. | ||
