Bay County Democratic Party v. Land

• Decision Date: 13 October 2004
• Docket Number: No. 04-10257-BC.,No. 04-10267-BC.,04-10257-BC.,04-10267-BC.
• Citation: 340 F.Supp.2d 802
• Parties: BAY COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY and Michigan Democratic Party, Plaintiffs, v. Terri Lynn LAND, Michigan Secretary of State, and Christopher M. Thomas, Michigan Director of Elections, in their official capacities, Defendants. and Michigan State Conference of NAACP Branches, Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, and Project Vote, Plaintiffs, v. Terri Lynn Land, Michigan Secretary of State, and Christopher M. Thomas, Michigan Director of Elections, in their official capacities, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Michigan

Page 802

340 F.Supp.2d 802

BAY COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY and Michigan Democratic Party, Plaintiffs, v. Terri Lynn LAND, Michigan Secretary of State, and Christopher M. Thomas, Michigan Director of Elections, in their official capacities, Defendants. and Michigan State Conference of NAACP Branches, Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, and Project Vote, Plaintiffs, v. Terri Lynn Land, Michigan Secretary of State, and Christopher M. Thomas, Michigan Director of Elections, in their official capacities, Defendants.

No. 04-10257-BC.

No. 04-10267-BC.

United States District Court, E.D. Michigan, Northern Division.

October 13, 2004.

Michael L. Pitt, Peggy G. Pitt, Pitt, Dowty, Royal Oak, MI, Amos E. Williams, Amos E. Williams Assoc., Detroit, MI, for Plaintiff.

OPINION AND ORDER DENYING MOTION TO TRANSFER VENUE

LAWSON, District Judge.

The plaintiffs have filed an action against the Michigan secretary of state and its director of elections alleging that the State's intended procedure for casting and counting provisional ballots at the upcoming general election, as outlined in an instructional memorandum directed to election officials throughout the state, will violate the Help America Vote Act of 2002, Pub. L 107-252, 116 Stat. 1668, 42 U.S.C. § 15301, et seq., and state laws implementing this federal legislation. The plaintiffs contend that if the secretary's proposed procedure is allowed to occur, several voters who are members of the plaintiffs' respective organizations are likely to be disenfranchised. The defendants have filed a motion to transfer venue of the action to the Western District of Michigan contending that the only proper venue for an action against a state official is the district that encompasses the State's seat of government. Alternatively, the defendants seek transfer for the convenience of the parties and witnesses. The plaintiffs have filed an answer in opposition to the motion. The Court has reviewed the submissions and finds that the relevant law and facts have been set forth in the motion papers and that oral argument will not aid in the disposition of the motions. Accordingly, it is ORDERED that the motions be decided on the papers submitted. See E.D. Mich. LR 7.1(e)(2).

The Court finds that the defendants' arguments are not supported by the plain language of the current venue statutes. Federal actions against the Michigan secretary of state over rules and practices governing federal elections traditionally have been brought in both the Eastern and Western Districts of Michigan. There is no rule that requires such actions to be brought only in the district in which the state's seat of government is located, and no inconvenience resulting from litigating in the State's more populous district reasonably can be claimed by a state official who has a mandate to administer elections throughout the State and operates an office in each of its counties. The Court, therefore, will deny the motion to transfer venue.

I.

In 2002, Congress enacted the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), 42 U.S.C. § 15301 et. seq., which ostensibly was intended to address several problems experienced during the 2000 federal election. HAVA provides a remedy to voters whose qualifications to vote are questioned by allowing, among other things, those voters to cast a provisional ballot. Section 15482 of the Act provides:

If an individual declares that such individual is a registered voter in the jurisdiction in which the individual desires to vote and that the individual is eligible to vote in an election for Federal office, but the name of the individual does not appear on the official list of eligible voters for the polling place or an election official asserts that the individual is not eligible to vote, such individual shall be permitted to cast a provisional ballot as follows:

(1) An election official at the polling place shall notify the individual that the individual may cast a provisional ballot in that election;

(2) The individual shall be permitted to cast a provisional ballot at that polling place upon the execution of a written affirmation by the individual before an election official at the polling place stating that the individual is —

(A) a registered voter in the jurisdiction in which the individual desires to vote; and

(B) eligible to vote in that election;

(3) An election official at the polling place shall transmit the ballot cast by the individual or the voter information contained in the written affirmation executed by the individual under paragraph (2) to an appropriate State or local election official for prompt verification under paragraph (4);

(4) If the appropriate State or local election official to whom the ballot or voter information is transmitted under paragraph (3) determines that the individual is eligible under State law to vote, the individual's provisional ballot shall be counted as a vote in that election in accordance with State law.

42 U.S.C. § 15482(a)(1)-(4). HAVA thus guarantees that voters casting provisional ballots will have their votes counted if election officials can verify their eligibility in accordance with State law. In tandem with HAVA, the State of Michigan passed implementing legislation on April 24, 2004. Public Act 92 of 2004, Mich. Comp. Laws § 168.813, requires local election officials "within 6 days after the election" to "determine whether the individual voting the provisional ballot was eligible to vote a ballot and whether to tabulate the provisional ballot." Mich. Comp. Law § 168.813(1).

The complaint in this case alleges that on June 16, 2004, defendant Christopher M. Thomas, the State director of elections, issued a nine-page memorandum entitled "HAVA Compliance Procedures and Processes" aimed at summarizing applicable law with respect to casting and counting provisional ballots. Compl. Ex. 1. The memorandum, purportedly distributed to local election officials, covers several aspects of the balloting procedures including the provisional balloting process. It also makes reference to appended forms entitled "Procedure for Issuing a Ballot If Voter's Name Does Not Appear on Registration List: A Four-Step Procedure," and "Procedure for Handling `Envelope' Ballots Returned to Clerk's Office." The point of controversy that spawned these lawsuits is a directive in those forms that instructs local election officials to count provisional ballots only if "the elector confirmed that he or she currently resides in the precinct where the `envelope' ballot was issued," and not to count provisional ballots if "[t]he elector was unable to confirm that he or she currently resides in the precinct where the `envelope' ballot was issued." Procedure for Handling Envelop Ballot at 2 (Mich. Dept. Of State June 16, 2004).

The plaintiffs in these consolidated cases are the Bay County Democratic Party, a county affiliate of the of the State Central Committee of the Michigan Democratic Party located in Pinconning, Michigan; the Michigan Democratic Party; the Michigan State Conference of NAACP Branches; the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN); and Project Vote. According to its complaint, the Michigan State Conference of NAACP branches is a membership organization comprised of over forty statewide units of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The Michigan NAACP has a branch in Bay City, Michigan. ACORN is a large scale community organization consisting of low- and moderate-income families with members in sixty-five cities across the country. They have offices in Detroit, Flint, Kalamazoo, Benton Harbor, Pontiac, Grand Rapids, Battle Creek, Ann Arbor, and Lansing. Project Vote is a non-profit organization that aims to increase civic participation among minority and lower income citizens. The organization has five offices in Michigan. The defendants are Terri Lynn Land, the Michigan secretary of state, and Christopher M. Thomas, Michigan director of elections, both sued in their official capacities.

The plaintiffs allege in their complaints, among other things, that the defendants threaten a violation of their rights guaranteed by HAVA and as implemented by Michigan Public Act 92 of 2004. They claim that the June 16 memorandum issued by the director of elections, including the appended forms and documents, mandating procedures that State election officials must follow in implementing HAVA improperly employ the word "precinct" instead of "jurisdiction" so that voters whose names are not on polling station rosters and who show up in the correct jurisdiction but in the incorrect precinct will be illegally turned away and thus disenfranchised. The plaintiffs aim to enforce their rights under federal law pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and they seek declaratory relief, injunctive relief (including the issuance of a preliminary injunction), and attorneys fees.

On October 5, 2004, the defendants filed a motion to transfer venue to the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan, the district that encompasses the county where the State capital if found. They requested immediate consideration of their motion, and the Court ordered the plaintiffs to respond to the motion according to an expedited briefing schedule.

II.

Although the purpose of the venue requirements is to protect a defendant against the risk that a plaintiff will select an unfair or inconvenient place of trial, see Leroy v. Great Western United Corp., 443 U.S. 173, 183, 99 S.Ct. 2710, 61 L.Ed.2d 464 (1979), the proper venue for a civil action is governed by statute. In civil cases "wherein jurisdiction is not founded solely on diversity of citizenship," venue is proper in

(1) a judicial district where any defendant resides, if all defendants reside in the same State, (2) a judicial district in which a substantial part of the events or omissions giving rise to the claim occurred, or a substantial part of property that...