Anderson v. Raffensperger
| Decision Date | 13 October 2020 |
| Docket Number | Case No. 1:20-cv-03263 |
| Citation | 497 F.Supp.3d 1300 |
| Parties | Lucille ANDERSON, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Brad RAFFENSPERGER, et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Georgia |
Adam Martin Sparks, Halsey G. Knapp, Jr., Joyce Gist Lewis, Krevolin & Horst, LLC, Atlanta, GA, Amanda J. Beane, Pro Hac Vice, Heath Loring Hyatt, Pro Hac Vice, Perkins Coie, Kevin J. Hamilton, Pro Hac Vice, Perkins Coie LLP, Seattle, WA, Amanda R. Callais, Pro Hac Vice, Jacki Lynn Anderson, Tre Allen Holloway, Pro Hac Vice, Perkins Coie, Marc E. Elias, Pro Hac Vice, Perkins Coie LLP, Washington, DC, Marcus Aaron Haggard, Pro Hac Vice, Perkins Coie LLP, Denver, CO, Molly Elizabeth Mitchell, Pro Hac Vice, Perkins Coie LLP, Boise, ID, for Plaintiff Lucille Anderson.
Adam Martin Sparks, Halsey G. Knapp, Jr., Joyce Gist Lewis, Krevolin & Horst, LLC, Atlanta, GA, Amanda J. Beane, Pro Hac Vice, Heath Loring Hyatt, Pro Hac Vice, Perkins Coie, Kevin J. Hamilton, Pro Hac Vice, Perkins Coie LLP, Seattle, WA, Amanda R. Callais, Pro Hac Vice, Jacki Lynn Anderson, Tre Allen Holloway, Pro Hac Vice, Perkins Coie, Marc E. Elias, Pro Hac Vice, Perkins Coie LLP, Washington, DC, Molly Elizabeth Mitchell, Pro Hac Vice, Perkins Coie LLP, Boise, ID, for Plaintiffs Sara Alami, Gianella Contreras Chavez, DSCC, Democratic Party of Georgia, Inc.
Brian Edward Lake, Carey Allen Miller, Vincent Robert Russo, Jr., Robbins Ross Alloy Belinfante Littlefield, LLC, Charlene S. McGowan, Georgia Attorney General's Office, Joshua Barrett Belinfante, Melanie Leigh Johnson, Robbins Ross Alloy Belinfante Littlefield LLC, Atlanta, GA, for Defendants Brad Raffensperger, Rebecca N. Sullivan, David J. Worley, Matthew Mashburn, Anh Le.
David R. Lowman, Detriss Thomas, Cheryl Ringer, Kaye Woodard Burwell, Office of the Fulton County Attorney, Atlanta, GA, for Defendants Mary Carole Cooney, Mark Wingate, Vernetta Nuriddin, Kathleen Ruth, Aaron Johnson.
Irene B. Vander Els, Shelley Driskell Momo, DeKalb County Law Department, Decatur, GA, for Defendants Samuel E. Tillman, Anthony Lewis, Susan Motter, Dele Lowman Smith, Baoky N. Vu.
Daniel Walter White, Haynie, Litchfield & White, PC, Marietta, GA, for Defendants Phil Daniell, Fred Aiken, Jessica M. Brooks, Neera Bahl, Darryl O. Wilson, Jr.
Bryan Francis Jacoutot, Bryan P. Tyson, Loree Anne Paradise, Taylor English Duma LLP, Atlanta, GA, for Defendants John Mangano, Ben Satterfield, Wandy Taylor, Stephen Day, Alice O'Lenick.
Jennifer R. Davenport, Ralph Jonathan Hart, Chatham County Attorney, Savannah, GA, for Defendants Thomas Mahoney, III, Marianne Heimes, Malinda Hodge, Antwan Lang, Debbie Rauers.
Arash A. Sabzevari, Jack Reynolds Hancock, Freeman Mathis & Gary, LLP, Forest Park, GA, for Defendants Carol Wesley, Dorothy Foster Hall, Patricia Pullar, Darlene Johnson, Diane Givens.
Kenneth Paul Robin, Jarrard & Davis, LLP, Cumming, GA, for Defendant Donna Crumbley.
Kenneth Paul Robin, Patrick D. Jaugstetter, Jarrard & Davis, LLP, Cumming, GA, for Defendants Donna Morris-McBride, Andy Callaway, Arch Brown, Mildred Schmelz.
David Alan Cole, Timothy M. Boughey, Freeman Mathis & Gary, LLP, Atlanta, GA, for Defendants Myesha Good, David C. Fedack, Robert Proctor, Daniel Zimmermann, Maurice Hurry.
William H. Noland, Noland Law Firm, LLC, Macon, GA, for Defendants Rinda Wilson, Henry Ficklin, Herbert Spangler, Cassandra Powell, Mike Kaplan.
Plaintiffs (voters and political organizations) filed a complaint and motion for preliminary injunction asking this Court to step into Georgia's November 2020 Presidential Election to dictate how various counties equip, staff, and operate their polling locations, how they train poll workers, and how they function on Election Day. (Dkts. 1; 92.) They say all of this is necessary because these counties (and really all of Georgia) have "faced some of the longest average wait times to vote in the entire county, often waiting hours to vote, with many deterred from voting and disenfranchised." (Dkt. 1 ¶ 3.) They claim these problems reached a crescendo in the June 2020 Primary when "Georgia's election system experienced a complete meltdown." (Dkt. 92-1 at 1.) Finally arguing "what's past is prologue," Plaintiffs say "nothing will change without judicial compulsion," guaranteeing lines that threaten to disenfranchise voters in the November 2020 Election. (Dkts. 92-1 at 2; 159 at 10.)1 Plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary injunction lists the steps it asks the Court to take to manage the November Election. Defendants move to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction or, alternatively, for failure to state a claim. (Dkts. 105; 106.) The Court grants Defendants’ motions to dismiss, denies Plaintiffs’ preliminary injunction motion, and dismisses this case for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
Plaintiffs are three individuals (Lucille Anderson, Sara Alami, and Gianella Contreras Chavez) and two political organizations (DSCC and Democratic Party of Georgia, Inc.). Plaintiffs Anderson, Alami, and Chavez (together, "Individual Plaintiffs") are registered voters in Fulton County. (Dkts. 1 ¶¶ 12–14; 93-30 ¶¶ 2–3; 93-31 ¶¶ 2–3; 93-32 ¶ 2.) They each waited in long lines to vote in the June 2020 Primary. (Dkts. 1 ¶¶ 12–14; 93-30 ¶¶ 4–7; 93-31 ¶¶ 5–6; 93-32 ¶¶ 3–7.)2 Plaintiff Anderson went to her polling location on her way to work but, finding long lines, could not vote. She returned that afternoon, waited in line more than an hour, and went home because she feared she might "pass out" from the heat. She returned about an hour later, but left without voting when she discovered the line was even longer than before. She planned to return at 9:00 p.m. but was too "exhausted from a full day of work and waiting to vote in the Georgia heat" to do so. (Dkts. 1 ¶ 12; 93-30 ¶¶ 4–7.) Plaintiff Alami arrived at her polling location 30 minutes before it opened but still waited in line for 6 hours before voting. (Dkts. 1 ¶ 13; 93-31 ¶¶ 5–6.) Plaintiff Chavez waited in line for more than 8 hours, before finally voting at 1:00 a.m. (Dkts. 1 ¶ 14; 93-32 ¶¶ 3–7.) Each Individual Plaintiff plans to vote in the November 2020 General Election but worries she will have to wait in long lines in order to do so. (Dkts. 1 ¶¶ 12–14; 93-30 ¶ 9; 93-31 ¶ 8; 93-32 ¶ 8.)
Plaintiff DSCC is the national senatorial committee of the Democratic Party. (Dkts. 1 ¶ 15; 93-63 ¶ 3.) Its mission is to elect candidates of the Democratic Party to the U.S. Senate, including from Georgia. (Id. ) Plaintiff Democratic Party of Georgia, Inc. ("DPG") is a state committee responsible for the day-to-day operation of the Democratic Party in Georgia. (Dkt. 1 ¶ 16); 52 U.S.C. § 30101(15). Its mission is to elect Democratic Party candidates across the state. (Dkts. 1 ¶ 16; 93-60 ¶ 2.) Plaintiffs DSCC and DPG (together, "Organizational Plaintiffs") claim long voting lines harm their missions and require them to divert resources as a result. (Dkts. 1 ¶¶ 15–16; 93-60 ¶¶ 17–19; 93-63 ¶¶ 10–11.)
Defendants are Georgia state and county officials sued in their official capacities. The state Defendants are the Georgia Secretary of State and members of the Georgia State Election Board (together, "State Defendants"). The county Defendants are members of nine County Boards of Registration and Elections (together, "County Defendants"). Those boards are in Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Gwinnett, Chatham, Clayton, Henry, Douglas, and Macon-Bibb Counties (together, "Nine Counties").
Plaintiffs claim Defendants have 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. (Dkt. 1 ¶¶ 4, 20; id. at 79.) Plaintiffs claim these failures unduly burden the right to vote in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments (Count 1); result in "extraordinary voting restrictions that render the Voting System fundamentally unfair" in violation of the substantive component of the Due Process Clause (Count 2); and "place[ ] widely different burdens on voters across the State.... depending on the counties in which they live," in violation of the Equal Protection Clause (Count 3). (Id. ¶¶ 197–214.) The complaint seeks declaratory and injunctive relief. (Id. at 79.)
In September 2020, Plaintiffs moved for a preliminary injunction asking the Court to order Defendants to take the following actions for the November 2020 Election:
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In Defense of the Foundation Stone: Deterring Post-election Abuse of the Legal Process
...in both state and federal courts pertaining to voters' ability to cast their ballots in 2020").19. See Anderson v. Raffensperger, 497 F. Supp. 3d 1300, 1333 (N.D. Ga 2020) ("Plaintiffs lack standing because they have not shown long lines are certainly impending in November.").20. See Compro......