Multiple groups, led by the League of Women Voters of Kentucky, have filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging some of the rules for the November general election in Kentucky.
Specifically, the groups are asking for two changes to the fall election:
- The elimination of the requirement for a photo ID to either vote in person or to vote absentee. Senate Bill 2, passed in the recent legislative session, requires certain types of photo IDs to vote in person, but also requires voters to send a copy of that ID when applying for an absentee ballot.
- The expansion of absentee voting to include COVID-19 as a reason to request a ballot. That reason for obtaining an absentee ballot was implemented for the June primary, but has not been implemented for the November general election.
In the press release from the Kentucky chapter, the president, Fran Wagner, said:
“We applaud the expansion of absentee voting for the 2020 Primary Election, but those changes have not been made for the November 2020 election which is soon to come. We urged the Kentucky General Assembly not to enact additional barriers when it passed Senate Bill 2 and again when it overrode the Governor’s veto in April. The pandemic demonstrates yet another reason why such barriers make voting difficult for far too many. We are advocating for a Kentucky election process that ensures all citizens can vote without risking their health or that of their loved ones. We filed this lawsuit now so that common sense can prevail and there is time for adequate preparations to be made for the important November General Election.”
And, the national president of the board of directors of the League of Women Voters, Chris Carson, added:
“COVID-19 presents new challenges for voters and election officials across the country, and now is certainly not the time to enact new barriers for voting. During an ongoing global pandemic, states should be focusing on how to make elections safe and accessible. Kentucky’s absentee ballot requirements and new voter ID law only make it harder and more dangerous for voters to cast a ballot.”
The League of Women Voters of Kentucky is joined in this case by the Louisville Urban League and the Kentucky Conference of NAACP Branches, as well as individual plaintiffs Michael Collins, Jeffrey Cosby, Thela Elliot, Dominique Jones, Grace Lewis, Dejuan Nash, and Tiffany Price. The plaintiffs are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union Voting Rights Project, ACLU Kentucky, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law, and Covington & Burling LLP.
The press releases from the League of Women Voters and from the ACLU-KY are included as PDFs at the end of this story.
Secretary of State Adams responds to the lawsuit
In a press release with the subject line “Secretary Adams Responds to Left-Wing Activists’ Lawsuit,” SOS Michael Adams responded to the lawsuit with this statement:
“Because the far left is too extreme to win elections, they regularly seek to have courts, rather than legislators, write our laws. Today, several left-wing organizations sued me in an effort to have an unelected federal judge rewrite our election laws for November. If these self-described advocates for democracy actually believed in democracy, they would let the democratic process work and let elected officials make policy. Instead, this lawsuit seeks to have lawmaking powers stripped from elected officials accountable to the people – the General Assembly, the Secretary of State and even the Governor. I will uphold my oath to our Constitution, which places the power to establish election laws with elected officials, rather than judges; just as I vigorously enforce our laws, I will vigorously defend our laws.”
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