(CN) - A coalition of civil and voting rights groups filed a lawsuit Wednesday challenging a Louisiana law requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote.
Senate Bill 436, which took effect Jan. 1, requires voter registration applicants to include proof of U.S. citizenship with their application. The groups bringing the lawsuit - the League of Women Voters of Louisiana, the League of Women Voters Education Fund, Voice of the Experienced, the NAACP Louisiana State Conference and Power Coalition for Equity and Justice - call the law "a hackneyed solution in search of a phantom problem" that will "chill voter registration activity and disenfranchise Louisiana's most vulnerable voters."
In their complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana, the plaintiffs claim S.B. 436 creates unfair barriers to register to vote.
"For the many Louisianans, including members of plaintiff organizations and the communities they serve, who do not have documentary evidence of citizenship, it can be expensive and complicated to obtain or replace proof of citizenship, if it is possible at all," the groups say in their complaint.
They argue this burden will disproportionately affect certain groups who are less likely to have access to common forms of citizenship documentation like passports and birth certificates, including Black people, low-income people, college students and the elderly, as well as people who have changed their name like married women.
The groups also say the law is unnecessary, as federal law already requires individuals registering to vote to swear under penalty of perjury that they are a U.S. citizen. There is no evidence to suggest noncitizens have voted in Louisiana, the groups argue. They cite Louisiana Secretary of State Nancy Landry's own statement that just 48 noncitizens have been removed from Louisiana's voter rolls since 2022 - a tiny fraction of the state's nearly 3 million registered voters.
The rights groups argue S.B. 436 is unconstitutionally vague, as it doesn't define what qualifies as proof of citizenship for voter registration. They also argue the law violates the First Amendment and that it goes against the National Voter Registration Act, which is a federal law that among other things, requires states to accept a standardized mail-in voter registration form created by the federal Election Assistance Commission.
That form doesn't require documentary proof of citizenship. The law states that the form require information "necessary to enable the appropriate State election official to assess the eligibility of the applicant and to administer voter registration and other parts of the election process."
States may also create their own voter registration forms in addition to the federal form, but courts have ruled that such forms cannot require extra information unless it is necessary to assess voter eligibility.
The groups argue that S.B. 436, which adds a citizenship documentation requirement to Louisiana's state voter registration form, violates the NVRA because state officials have not explained why such a requirement is necessary for determining voter eligibility.
"To date, neither Secretary Landry nor any other state official has said what constitutes proof of citizenship, why it is necessary, or whether the requirement that all voter registration applicants attest to their citizenship status under penalty of perjury is insufficient to protect the state's interests," the groups write.
Joel Watson, a spokesperson for Louisiana Secretary of State Nancy Landry, told Courthouse News Service that Landry's office cannot comment on pending litigation. Landry oversees elections in Louisiana and is one of the defendants in the lawsuit.
Source: Courthouse News Service
