Contact: Mark Fefer, Marketing Communications, 206.757.8583 or markfefer@dwt.com
AUGUST 28, 2019 – A 7th Circuit panel has affirmed a lower court's preliminary injunction, blocking an Indiana law that would have allowed county election officials to kick voters off the rolls immediately without notice.
On behalf of Common Cause Indiana and other plaintiffs, a DWT team led by Matt Jedreski—together with the ACLU, ACLU of Indiana, and the progressive public policy group Demos—challenged the law, which allows purging of voters, without notice or waiting period, based on a match in the Crosscheck program, which is known to frequently flag people incorrectly as potential double voters, especially those with unusual or ethnic names.
The law was scheduled to go into effect July 1, 2018, but in June, our team helped secure a preliminary injunction, blocking enforcement. We also defeated a motion to stay the case pending appeal of the injunction.
Working pro bono, a team including Jedreski, Grace Thompson, Kate Kennedy, and Erika Buck has since conducted additional depositions of county officials, issued public records act requests, and collected and reviewed over 30,000 documents from state contractors. The team will soon move for summary judgment. Trial is scheduled for 2020.
The Indiana litigation is part of a nationwide voting rights campaign, in partnership with the ACLU, involving more than 160 Davis Wright Tremaine attorneys and staff.
About Davis Wright Tremaine
Davis Wright Tremaine LLP is an AmLaw 100 law firm with more than 550 lawyers representing clients based throughout the United States and around the world. In 2018, our attorneys and staff devoted over 26,000 hours, valued at $14 million, to working on a diverse range of pro bono matters.