Judge Denies Efforts to Block Citizenship Verification of New Voters in Three States

A federal judge on Wednesday denied the request of a number of liberal groups who wanted to block a rule allowing states to verify the citizenship status of newly registered voters.

The lawsuit, which was brought forth by the League of Woman Voters and a number of other liberal groups, sought a preliminary injunction to prevent three states from using a rule issued in January by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC). The rule allows the states to use citizenship verification instructions in the federally mandated voter registration forms.

Brian Newby, the executive director of the EAC, granted requests from Kansas, Georgia, and Alabama on Jan. 29 after they had asked to modify the instructions contained on the National Voter Mail Registration Form—or “Federal Form”—that would make individuals registering to vote in those three states provide proof of citizenship in accordance with their respective laws and regulations.

United States District Judge Richard J. Leon denied the requests from the liberal groups for the time being, calling the preliminary injunction a “thinly veiled request for the relief normally accorded in a final judgment” and that the “demands are dramatized all the more by the fact that the United State Department of Justice has somehow decided to consent to such remarkable relief.”

The Department of Justice refused to defend the actions of EAC, which is an independent federal agency. The Public Interest Legal Foundation, an Indiana-based election integrity group, stepped in to defend the states.

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