Case: Anderson v. Raffensperger

1:20-cv-03263 | U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia

Filed Date: Aug. 6, 2020

Closed Date: Oct. 13, 2020

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Case Summary

This is a case about the November 2020 general election in Georgia. The plaintiffs were three individual voters in Fulton County, GA, the Georgia Democratic Party, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC). Marc Elias and his firm, along with Georgia private counsel, represented the plaintiffs. Pointing to a “complete meltdown” of the Georgia election system during the June 2020 primary election and asserting that “what’s past is prologue,” the plaintiffs wished to compel changes to the administration of the November general election. In the primary, the individual voters alleged that they had to wait in lines exceeding eight hours to vote; one alleged she could only vote at 1:00am, and one alleged that she could not vote at all. On August 6, 2020, the plaintiffs sued the Georgia Secretary of State, members of the State Election Board, and members of nine County Boards of Registration and Elections (in Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Gwinnett, Chatham, Clayton, Henry, Douglas, and Macon-Bibb Counties) in the Northern District of Georgia. The plaintiffs claimed that defendants had “repeatedly caused long voting lines in the Nine Counties by failing to provide (1) enough polling locations, (2) enough voting equipment, (3) enough poll workers, (4) adequate training to poll workers, (5) enough technicians to address equipment malfunctions and other technical issues, (6) enough time to set up polling locations, and (7) enough backup paper pollbooks and emergency paper ballots in case voting equipment breaks down.” The plaintiffs asserted that the failures unduly burdened their right to vote in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendment, rendered the Georgia voting system fundamentally unfair in violation of the Due Process Clause, and placed “widely different burdens on voters across the [s]tate” in violation of the Equal Protection Clause. They sought injunctive and declaratory relief.

The case was originally assigned to Judge Leigh Martin May, who recused. Judge May had previously been extensively involved with the Georgia Democratic Party. The case was reassigned to Judge Michael L. Brown.

On September 1, 2020, the plaintiffs moved for a preliminary injunction to order the defendants to: (1) implement a queue formula to allocate voting machine resources effectively within each county, (2) supply emergency paper ballot backups at each polling place, (3) instruct poll workers to give the emergency paper ballots to voters who waited more than 30 minutes in line, (4) require poll workers to monitor and record wait times every 30 minutes, (5) ensure poll workers were properly trained, (6) ensure that technicians could reach polling places within 30 minutes of a call on election day, (7) allocate and train at least one technician for each 10 polling locations within a county, and (8) enact policies requiring that voting equipment be tested and functioning prior to election day. In response, the defendants filed a motion to dismiss on September 8, 2020. Litigation proceeded on the motion through September and early October, and the district court held a hearing on October 1.

The district court dismissed the complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and denied the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction on October 13, 2020. District Judge Michael L. Brown first found that the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue the defendants, so the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction. Under the Art. III standing doctrine, for a court to enjoin future activity, the plaintiffs must demonstrate an injury is “certainly impending” for it to be an injury-in-fact. Here, the plaintiffs needed to show that long lines burdening their right to vote have certainly occurred during the November 2020 general election. To show that their right to vote was likely to be infringed, the plaintiffs pointed first to the issues with the June 2020 primary election. But the court, in a county-by-county analysis, found that the defendants had instituted changes with voting procedures that made it much less likely — or at least uncertain — that a “meltdown” infringing on the right to vote would occur again in November. Second, the plaintiffs proffered an expert report from an operations professor, which showed that notwithstanding the defendants’ operational changes, the November 2020 election would still likely suffer from unconstitutional wait times. While the court took issue with the report’s methodology, it ultimately concluded that even if its wait time predictions were correct, it established “no more than a possibility — not even a reasonable likelihood — of long voting lines in November 2020.” Additionally, the court found that even if the plaintiffs had demonstrated a “certainly impending” injury, it was not traceable to the state defendants because only the county boards of elections, not the state defendants, had authority to change election administration in a way to mitigate the alleged injuries.

Turning to the requested preliminary injunction, the court found three issues. First, the requested relief would impermissibly “outsource the election to the plaintiffs’ expert.” Because the Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution gives states authority to regulate their elections, federal courts generally “have no business interfering with them absent a compelling need to do so,” and any interference must only “provide the minimum (and least disruptive) relief necessary to redress the harm.” The court found that since the plaintiffs proposed injunction would have “outsource[d]” election administration “entirely to an academic in Minnesota,” it would violate the Constitution. Second, the court found plaintiffs’ requested relief, which included requirements to provide “adequate,” “sufficient,” and “reasonable” levels of resources, was too vague. Third, the relief that was specific enough, the court found, was unnecessary in light of the defendants’ changes to the administration of the November election. The court dismissed the case and denied the motion for a preliminary injunction. 497 F.Supp.3d 1300.

	Document
1:20-cv-03263	Docket [PACER]	Oct. 13, 2020	Oct. 13, 2020 Docket
1 1:20-cv-03263	Complaint for Injunctive and Declaratory Relief	Aug. 6, 2020	Aug. 6, 2020 Complaint
174 1:20-cv-03263	Opinion & Order	Oct. 13, 2020	Oct. 13, 2020 Order/Opinion

ECF Number	Description	Date	Link Date / Link
1	COMPLAINT filed by Democratic Party of Georgia, Inc., Gianella Contreras Chavez, Lucille Anderson, DSCC, Sara Alami.(Filing fee $400, receipt number AGANDC-9998713) (Attachments: # 1 Civil Cover Sheet)(adg) Please visit our website at http://www.gand.uscourts.gov/commonly-used-forms to obtain Pretrial Instructions and Pretrial Associated Forms which includes the Consent To Proceed Before U.S. Magistrate form. (Entered: 08/06/2020) 1 Civil Cover Sheet View on PACER	Aug. 6, 2020	Aug. 6, 2020 Clearinghouse
2	ORDER OF RECUSAL. Judge Leigh Martin May recused. Case reassigned to Judge Michael L. Brown for all further proceedings NOTICE TO ALL COUNSEL OF RECORD: The Judge designation in the civil action number assigned to this case has been changed to 1:20-cv-3263-MLB. Please make note of this change in order to facilitate the docketing of pleadings in this case. Signed by Judge Leigh Martin May on 8/6/2020. (adg) (Entered: 08/06/2020)	Aug. 6, 2020	Aug. 6, 2020 PACER
3	Electronic Summons Issued as to Fred Aiken. (adg) (Entered: 08/06/2020)	Aug. 6, 2020	Aug. 6, 2020 PACER
4	Electronic Summons Issued as to Neera Bahl. (adg) (Entered: 08/06/2020)	Aug. 6, 2020	Aug. 6, 2020 PACER
5	Electronic Summons Issued as to Jessica M. Brooks. (adg) (Entered: 08/06/2020)	Aug. 6, 2020	Aug. 6, 2020 PACER
6	Electronic Summons Issued as to Arch Brown. (adg) (Entered: 08/06/2020)	Aug. 6, 2020	Aug. 6, 2020 PACER
7	Electronic Summons Issued as to Andy Callaway. (adg) (Entered: 08/06/2020)	Aug. 6, 2020	Aug. 6, 2020 PACER
8	Electronic Summons Issued as to Mary Carole Cooney. (adg) (Entered: 08/06/2020)	Aug. 6, 2020	Aug. 6, 2020 PACER
9	Electronic Summons Issued as to Stephen Day. (adg) (Entered: 08/06/2020)	Aug. 6, 2020	Aug. 6, 2020 PACER
10	Electronic Summons Issued as to Phil Daniell. (adg) (Entered: 08/06/2020)	Aug. 6, 2020	Aug. 6, 2020 PACER
11	Electronic Summons Issued as to David C. Fedack. (adg) (Entered: 08/06/2020)	Aug. 6, 2020	Aug. 6, 2020 PACER
12	Electronic Summons Issued as to Henry Ficklin. (adg) (Entered: 08/06/2020)	Aug. 6, 2020	Aug. 6, 2020 PACER
13	Electronic Summons Issued as to Diane Givens. (adg) (Entered: 08/06/2020)	Aug. 6, 2020	Aug. 6, 2020 PACER
14	Electronic Summons Issued as to Myesha Good. (adg) (Entered: 08/06/2020)	Aug. 6, 2020	Aug. 6, 2020 PACER
15	Electronic Summons Issued as to Dorothy Foster Hall. (adg) (Entered: 08/06/2020)	Aug. 6, 2020	Aug. 6, 2020 PACER
16	Electronic Summons Issued as to Marianne Heimes. (adg) (Entered: 08/06/2020)	Aug. 6, 2020	Aug. 6, 2020 PACER
17	Electronic Summons Issued as to Malinda Hodge. (adg) (Entered: 08/06/2020)	Aug. 6, 2020	Aug. 6, 2020 PACER
18	Electronic Summons Issued as to Maurice Hurry. (adg) (Entered: 08/06/2020)	Aug. 6, 2020	Aug. 6, 2020 PACER
19	Electronic Summons Issued as to Aaron Johnson. (adg) (Entered: 08/06/2020)	Aug. 6, 2020	Aug. 6, 2020 PACER
20	Electronic Summons Issued as to Darlene Johnson. (adg) (Entered: 08/06/2020)	Aug. 6, 2020	Aug. 6, 2020 PACER
21	Electronic Summons Issued as to Mike Kaplan. (adg) (Entered: 08/06/2020)	Aug. 6, 2020	Aug. 6, 2020 PACER
22	Electronic Summons Issued as to Antwan Lang. (adg) (Entered: 08/06/2020)	Aug. 6, 2020	Aug. 6, 2020 PACER
23	Electronic Summons Issued as to Anh Le. (adg) (Entered: 08/06/2020)	Aug. 6, 2020	Aug. 6, 2020 PACER
24	Electronic Summons Issued as to Anthony Lewis. (adg) (Entered: 08/06/2020)	Aug. 6, 2020	Aug. 6, 2020 PACER
25	Electronic Summons Issued as to Thomas Mahoney, III. (adg) (Entered: 08/06/2020)	Aug. 6, 2020	Aug. 6, 2020 PACER
26	Electronic Summons Issued as to John Mangano. (adg) (Entered: 08/06/2020)	Aug. 6, 2020	Aug. 6, 2020 PACER
27	Electronic Summons Issued as to Matthew Mashburn. (adg) (Entered: 08/06/2020)	Aug. 6, 2020	Aug. 6, 2020 PACER
28	Electronic Summons Issued as to Donna Morris-McBride. (adg) (Entered: 08/06/2020)	Aug. 6, 2020	Aug. 6, 2020 PACER
29	Electronic Summons Issued as to Susan Motter. (adg) (Entered: 08/06/2020)	Aug. 6, 2020	Aug. 6, 2020 PACER
30	Electronic Summons Issued as to Vernetta Nuriddin. (adg) (Entered: 08/06/2020)	Aug. 6, 2020	Aug. 6, 2020 PACER
31	Electronic Summons Issued as to Alice O'Lenick. (adg) (Entered: 08/06/2020)	Aug. 6, 2020	Aug. 6, 2020 PACER
32	Electronic Summons Issued as to Cassandra Powell. (adg) (Entered: 08/06/2020)	Aug. 6, 2020	Aug. 6, 2020 PACER
33	Electronic Summons Issued as to Robert Proctor. (adg) (Entered: 08/06/2020)	Aug. 6, 2020	Aug. 6, 2020 PACER
34	Electronic Summons Issued as to Patricia Pullar. (adg) (Entered: 08/06/2020)	Aug. 6, 2020	Aug. 6, 2020 PACER
35	Electronic Summons Issued as to Brad Raffensperger. (adg) (Entered: 08/06/2020)	Aug. 6, 2020	Aug. 6, 2020 PACER
36	Electronic Summons Issued as to Debbie Rauers. (adg) (Entered: 08/06/2020)	Aug. 6, 2020	Aug. 6, 2020 PACER
37	Electronic Summons Issued as to Dan Richardson. (adg) (Entered: 08/06/2020)	Aug. 6, 2020	Aug. 6, 2020 PACER
38	Electronic Summons Issued as to Kathleen Ruth. (adg) (Entered: 08/06/2020)	Aug. 6, 2020	Aug. 6, 2020 PACER
39	Electronic Summons Issued as to Ben Satterfield. (adg) (Entered: 08/06/2020)	Aug. 6, 2020	Aug. 6, 2020 PACER
40	Electronic Summons Issued as to Mildred Schmelz. (adg) (Entered: 08/06/2020)	Aug. 6, 2020	Aug. 6, 2020 PACER

Case: Anderson v. Raffensperger

1:20-cv-03263 | U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia

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