Ga. Ass'n of Latino Elected Officials, Inc. v. Gwinnett Cnty. Bd. of Registration & Elections

Citation36 F.4th 1100
Decision Date08 June 2022
Docket Number20-14540
Parties GEORGIA ASSOCIATION OF LATINO ELECTED OFFICIALS, INC., as an Organization, Georgia Coalition for the People's Agenda, Inc., as an Organization, Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Atlanta, Inc., as an organization, New Georgia Project, as an organization, Common Cause, as an organization, Albert Mendez, Limary Ruiz Torres, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. GWINNETT COUNTY BOARD OF REGISTRATION AND ELECTIONS, John Mangano, Stephen Day, Ben Satterfield, Beauty Baldwin, Alice O'Lenick, Brad Raffensperger, in his official capacity as the Secretary of State of Georgia, Defendants-Appellees.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

Jon M. Greenbaum, Julie Marie Houk, Managing Counsel, Ezra D. Rosenberg, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Washington, DC, Bryan L. Sells, Law Office of Bryan L. Sells, LLC, Atlanta, GA, for Plaintiffs-Appellants Georgia Coalition for the People's Agenda, Inc., Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Atlanta, Inc., New Georgia Project, Common Cause.

Jon M. Greenbaum, Ezra D. Rosenberg, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Washington, DC, Bryan L. Sells, Law Office of Bryan L. Sells, LLC, Atlanta, GA, for Plaintiffs-Appellants Albert Mendez, Limary Ruiz Torres

Bryan P. Tyson, Bryan Francis Jacoutot, Diane Festin LaRoss, Loree Anne Paradise, Attorney, Taylor English Duma, LLP, Atlanta, GA, for Defendants-Appellees Gwinnett County Board of Registration and Elections, John Mangano, Stephen Day, Ben Satterfield, Beauty Baldwin, Alice O'Lenick.

Elizabeth T. Young, Attorney General's Office, Atlanta, GA, Miles Christian Skedsvold, Attorney General's Office, Atlanta, GA, for Defendant-Appellee Brad Raffensperger.

Before William Pryor, Chief Judge, Lagoa, Circuit Judge, and Schlesinger,* District Judge.

Lagoa, Circuit Judge:

Plaintiffs—five organizations and two individual voters from Gwinnett County, Georgia—allege that absentee ballot applications and voting-related information should have been, but were not, provided in both English and Spanish to voters in Gwinnett County during the 2020 election cycle. This appeal asks us to determine whether Defendants—the Gwinnett County Board of Registrations and Elections, the Board's individual members, and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger—violated § 203 and § 4(e) of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act, 52 U.S.C. § 10503, requires certain States and their political subdivisions to provide voting materials in languages in addition to English. Gwinnett County is subject to the requirements of § 203, and Plaintiffs seek relief under that section for all limited-English proficient, Spanish-speaking voters in Gwinnett County. Section 4(e), 52 U.S.C. § 10303(e), prohibits States from denying individuals who were educated in "American-flag schools" in a language other than English the right to vote because of an inability to understand English. Plaintiffs seek relief under § 4(e) for all limited-English proficient, Spanish-speaking voters in Gwinnett County who were educated in Puerto Rico.

The district court dismissed Plaintiffs’ claims for lack of jurisdiction and for failure to state a claim, and this appeal ensued. After careful review and with the benefit of oral argument, we vacate the district court's dismissal for lack of jurisdiction, and we affirm its dismissal for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.

I. BACKGROUND
A. Factual Allegations

The individual Plaintiffs are United States citizens registered to vote in Gwinnett County. Plaintiff Albert Mendez is a professional bass fisherman. He was born in New York City and raised in Puerto Rico, where he attended Spanish-language schools. Plaintiff Limary Ruiz Torres is a part-time accountant. She was born and raised in Puerto Rico, where she attended Spanish-language schools. Neither Mendez nor Ruiz Torres can read English.

The organizational Plaintiffs are the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, Inc. ("GALEO"), the Georgia Coalition for the People's Agenda, Inc., Asian Americans Advancing Justice–Atlanta, Inc., the New Georgia Project, Inc., and Common Cause. These organizations are engaged in "get-out-the-vote" activities and other voter registration efforts in Gwinnett County. The individual and organizational Plaintiffs (collectively, "Plaintiffs") allege that Defendants violated § 203, 52 U.S.C. § 10503, and § 4(e), 52 U.S.C. § 10303(e), of the Voting Rights Act during the 2020 election.

Defendants are the Gwinnett County Board of Registrations and Elections and its individual members (collectively, the "Gwinnett County Board of Elections"), and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger ("Secretary Raffensperger" or the "Secretary"). The Gwinnett County Board of Elections administers elections in Gwinnett County, Georgia; its individual members are essentially election superintendents and responsible for conducting such elections. Secretary Raffensperger is Georgia's chief election official. In this capacity, Secretary Raffensperger is charged with overseeing and administering elections in Georgia. See O.C.G.A. § 21-2-50.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965, Pub. L. No. 89-110, 79 Stat. 437, prohibits various kinds of discrimination in voting. Section 4(e), which was enacted in 1965 as part of the original Voting Rights Act, provides, in relevant part:

No person who demonstrates that he has successfully completed the sixth primary grade in a public school in, or a private school accredited by, ... the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in which the predominant classroom language was other than English, shall be denied the right to vote in any Federal, State, or local election because of his inability to read, write, understand, or interpret any matter in the English language ....

52 U.S.C. § 10303(e)(2). Plaintiffs allege that Gwinnett County has a substantial population of Spanish-speaking voters who were educated in Puerto Rico and who are entitled to the protections of § 4(e).

In 1975, Congress amended the Voting Rights Act to include § 203. Act of Aug. 6, 1975, Pub. L. No. 94-73, § 301, 89 Stat. 400, 402–03 (codified as amended at 52 U.S.C. § 10503 ). Section 203(b) provides that "no covered State or political subdivision shall provide voting materials only in the English language." 52 U.S.C. § 10503(b)(1). A State or political subdivision is a "covered State or political subdivision" if the Director of the Census determines that certain language minority population thresholds are met and that "the illiteracy rate of the citizens in the language minority as a group is higher than the national illiteracy rate." Id. § 10503(b)(2)(A). Finally, § 203(c) provides:

Whenever any State or political subdivision subject to the prohibition of subsection (b) of this section provides any registration or voting notices, forms, instructions, assistance, or other materials or information relating to the electoral process, including ballots, it shall provide them in the language of the applicable minority group as well as in the English language.

Id . § 10503(c).

It is undisputed that Gwinnett County is a covered political subdivision pursuant to Section 203(b), and that whenever Gwinnett County provides the materials or information described in § 203, they must be in both English and Spanish. It is also undisputed that the State of Georgia is not a "covered State" under § 203(b). See Voting Rights Act Amendments of 2006, Determinations Under Section 203, 81 Fed. Reg. 87,532 (Dec. 5, 2016).

In response to the public health crisis surrounding the spread of COVID-19 in early 2020, Secretary Raffensperger postponed Georgia's 2020 presidential primary election from March to May 2020. After Georgia Governor Brian Kemp issued a statewide shelter-in-place order in April 2020, Secretary Raffensperger postponed the 2020 primary election again to June 9, 2020, in order to allow his office and the counties time to "shore up contingency plans, find and train additional poll workers, and make other preparations." With the election moved to June 9 and uncertainty regarding the spread of COVID-19, Secretary Raffensperger issued a press release encouraging Georgia voters to cast absentee ballots instead of voting in person on election day:

Considering the health risks posed by COVID-19, Georgians should seriously consider submitting an absentee ballot by mail .... [T]he extra precautions necessary to preserve voter and poll worker health during the pandemic will result in long wait times and an increased health risk that could be avoided through absentee ballots ....

Under normal circumstances, absentee ballot applications are handled by county elections officials. Due to concerns about the effect of COVID-19, Secretary Raffensperger sought to facilitate the use of absentee ballots by using CARES Act1 funds to mail two rounds of absentee ballot applications to active Georgia voters—the first round of approximately 6.9 million applications was mailed during the last week of March and a second round of approximately 323,000 applications was mailed on or about April 21. These applications were provided only in English.

Plaintiffs’ allegations against Secretary Raffensperger are not limited to the two mailings of English-only absentee ballot applications. Plaintiffs also allege that "[a]ll election materials provided by the Georgia Secretary of State to Gwinnett County voters are English-only." Secretary Raffensperger "issues press releases that provide critical and substantive election-related information," and his official website "contains other critical information for Gwinnett County voters," which are provided only in English. While precinct cards, which "contain critical information" like a voter's polling place, voting districts, and change of address processes, are mailed to each voter upon registration by the relevant county board of registration and elections, they are also available—but only in...

To continue reading

Request your trial
13 cases
  • Fair Fight Action, Inc. v. Raffensperger
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Northern District of Georgia
    • September 30, 2022
    ... ... Georgia's elections process.” Doc. No. [1], ¶ ... 2. The ... vote during the applicable registration" time period ... Id. at 188 ...  \xC2" ... of State is a constitutional officer elected by ... Georgia voters every four years. Ga ... officials, as well as to provide guidance on certain ... of State's Office, she served with the Gwinnett County ... election office for six to eight ... Ass'n of Latino Elected Offs., Inc. v. Gwinnett Cty. Bd ... v. Marion Cnty Election Bd., 553 U.S. 181, 207 (2008) ... ...
  • Allen v. Dixon
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Northern District of Florida
    • January 31, 2023
    ... ... officials on the basis of vicarious liability or respondeat ... S.F ... Arts & Athletics, Inc. v. U.S. Olympic Comm. , 483 ... U.S. 522, ... ‘Controversies.'” Ga. Ass'n of Latino ... Elected Offs., Inc. v. Gwinnett Cnty. d of Reg. & ... Elections , 36 F.4th 1100, 1113 (11th Cir. 2022) (quoting ... ...
  • Keeter v. Comm'r of Internal Revenue
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit
    • July 5, 2023
    ... ... Highpoint ... Tower Tech. Inc. v. Comm'r , 931 F.3d 1050, 1053 ... (11th ... reading.'" Ga. Ass'n of Latino Elected ... Offs., Inc. v. Gwinnett Cnty. d. of Registration & ... Elections , 36 F.4th 1100, 1120 (11th ... ...
  • Flores v. U.S. Attorney Gen.
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit
    • April 5, 2023
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT