LOS ANGELES, CA – Judge James Rigali of the California Superior Court for the County of Santa Barbara has scheduled a June 17, 2014 hearing in Putney v. Garietz. Putney is a case in which MALDEF seeks to compel the Clerk of City of Santa Maria to accept a petition to place a critical voting measure on the November general election ballot. MALDEF represents Hazel Putney, the lead proponent of the initiative and a representative of Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE). The proposed measure would change Santa Maria’s City Council election system from an at-large system to a single-member district system. Rhonda Garietz, Chief Deputy City Clerk of the City of Santa Maria, rejected the petition, alleging that the form of the petition deviated from the Elections Code.
Voting Rights
STAY EXTENDED IN VOTER REGISTRATION CASE: TENTH CIRCUIT BLOCKS ERRONEOUS KANSAS COURT ORDER PENDING APPEAL
DENVER, CO – The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit has granted MALDEF’s request for a stay of a recent court order that disrupts the national system of registering voters in federal elections. In March, a federal district court in Kansas ordered the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to make changes to the federal mail voter registration form in order to require voter registrants in Kansas and Arizona to provide additional paperwork, unavailable to numerous eligible applicants, to prove their U.S. citizenship. MALDEF and other counsel representing intervenors appealed the decision because it runs contrary to federal law and to the result in Arizona v. ITCA, a case MALDEF won last June, in which the U.S. Supreme Court held, by a 7-2 vote, that state-voting laws must yield to the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) of 1993.
APPEAL DOCKETED TO STOP ERRONEOUS KANSAS COURT ORDER FROM BLOCKING VOTER PARTICIPATION
DENVER, CO – MALDEF has appealed a recent court order that disrupts the national system of registering voters in federal elections. In the case, a federal district court in Kansas ordered the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to make changes to the federal mail voter registration form in order to require voter registrants in Kansas and Arizona to provide additional, burdensome paperwork to prove their U.S. citizenship. The decision runs contrary to the result in Arizona v. ITCA, a case won last June by MALDEF, in which the U.S. Supreme Court held, by a 7-2 vote, that state-voting laws must yield to the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) of 1993.