On August 3, 2020, LDF filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana challenging Louisiana’s failure to ensure all eligible voters can vote safely in the upcoming elections amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. LDF represented the NAACP Louisiana State Conference, Power Coalition for Equity and Justice, and individual voters in the case who were calling for extra protections for voters with elevated health risks.
The lawsuit challenges both Louisiana’s restrictions on the use of absentee mail-in ballots and its reduction of the early voting period from thirteen days during the July and August 2020 elections to seven for the November and December 2020 elections.
Previously, LDF and co-counsel filed a lawsuit challenging provisions of Louisiana’s absentee and early voting laws. Less than two months into Louisiana’s attempted reopening and roll-back of COVID-19 protection measures, the rate of infection climbed significantly. Despite this increase, Louisiana failed to extend even the baseline modifications that were in place for the primary and municipal elections to protect voters during the November and December 2020 elections.
In a fast-tracked ruling issued in September 2020, the federal court in Harding v. Edwards ordered that the state provide both expanded qualifications for absentee voting by mail and three extra days of early in-person voting — extending the standard seven days of early voting in Louisiana to a total of 10 that year.
