League of Women Voters of Fla., Inc. v. Detzner

• Decision Date: 24 July 2018
• Docket Number: Case No. 4:18-CV-2§51-MW/CAS
• Citation: 314 F.Supp.3d 1205
• Parties: LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF FLORIDA, INC., et al., Plaintiffs, v. Kenneth W. DETZNER, in his official capacity as the Florida Secretary of State, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Florida

314 F.Supp.3d 1205

LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF FLORIDA, INC., et al., Plaintiffs,

v.Kenneth W. DETZNER, in his official capacity as the Florida Secretary of State, Defendant.

Case No. 4:18-CV-2§51-MW/CAS

United States District Court, N.D. Florida.

Signed July 24, 2018

Abha Khanna, Perkins Coie LLP, Seattle, WA, Amanda R. Callais, Elisabeth C. Frost, Pro Hac Vice, Alexi Machek Velez, Jacki L. Anderson, John Michael Geise, Marc E. Elias, Perkins Coie LLP, Washington, DC, Frederick Stanton Wermuth, King Blackwell Zehnder Etc PA, Orlando, FL, for Plaintiff.

David Andrew Fugett, Jesse Craig Dyer, Florida Department Of State Office Of General Counsel, Tallahassee, FL, Gary Vergil Perko, Malcolm Noble Means, Mohammad Omar Jazil, Hopping Green & Sams PA, Tallahassee, FL, for Defendants.

ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFFS' MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION

Mark E. Walker, Chief United States District JudgeFlorida is home to 12 public universities and 28 state and community colleges. ECF No. 24, Ex. I, at 7 ("Rodden Report"). Four of the 10 largest public universities in the United States are in Florida. Id. For example, the University of Florida ("UF") in Gainesville—revered by many as Florida's first and finest institution of higher education—enrolls more than 52,000 students, 9,000 of whom live on the campus's three centrally located square miles. Id. at 11, 18–19. Nearly 68 percent of Gainesville's voting-age population is affiliated with UF and nearby Santa Fe College. Id. at 9; ECF No. 24, Ex. H, at 2.

Across Florida, more than 1.1 million young men and women were enrolled in institutions of higher learning in 2016; nearly 830,000 were enrolled at public colleges or universities. ECF No. 24, Ex. P, at 6 ("Levine, et al. Report"). Almost 107,000 staff members worked at these public institutions. Id. Put another way, the number of people who live and work on Florida's public college and university campuses is greater than the population of Jacksonville, Florida—or the populations of North Dakota, South Dakota, Alaska, Vermont, Wyoming, and the District of Columbia.

In November 2016, 2.4 million men and women under the age of 30 were registered to vote in Florida. ECF No. 24, Ex. B., at 7 ("Smith Report"). They comprised more than one quarter of the 9.5 million Floridians who voted that election. Id. at 6. Many of them chose to vote early, a popular form of voting in Florida.¹ In 2012, roughly 2.4 million Floridians of all ages—or 28.1 percent of the electorate—voted early. Smith Rep., at 5. That number rose in 2016 to more than 3.9 million Floridians of all ages—or approximately 40.3 percent of all those who voted—who cast their ballots at an early voting site. Id. at 4.

Early voting is especially popular among college students. They vote early at a higher rate in Florida than the national average. In the 2012 election, 16 percent of college students across the country voted early; that number increased to 18 percent in 2016. Levine, et al. Rep., at 14. In Florida, 29 percent of college students voted early in 2012. Id. In 2016, 43 percent of Florida's college students voted early. Id.

Despite early voting's popularity among Florida's college students, no early voting site can exist on a college or university campus. As a direct result of Secretary of State Kenneth Detzner's ("Defendant") Opinion DE 14-01 (the "Opinion"), ECF No. 24, Ex. A,² issued through the Division of Elections, none of the nearly 830,000 students enrolled in a public university or college can vote early on campus. And none of the 68 percent of Gainesville residents affiliated with UF or Santa Fe College can vote early where they work, study, or, for thousands of students, live.

This Court has considered, after hearing on July 16, 2018, Plaintiffs' motion for preliminary injunction. ECF No. 22. The issue is whether the Secretary of State's Opinion that categorically bars early voting on any university or college campus violates the First, Fourteenth, and Twenty-Sixth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. It does. The motion is GRANTED .

I

More lines, more problems. In November 2012, many Florida voters "found themselves waiting in line for hours to cast a ballot both during the early voting period and on Election Day," according to Defendant's post-election report intended to improve the state's election administration. ECF No. 24, Ex. C, at 4. Supervisors of elections attributed these "excessive and unreasonable waiting times" to several factors, including "inadequate voting locations." Id. Under Florida law, supervisors of elections have discretion to designate certain eligible locations as early voting sites. Fla. Stat. § 101.657(1)(a) ("The supervisor may also designate ...") (emphasis added). In 2012, however, supervisors of elections could only designate their offices, city halls, or public libraries as early voting sites. ECF No. 24, Ex. C, at 7–8.

Defendant recommended that Florida's legislature amend its early voting statute to expand what qualifies as an eligible early voting site. Id. at 7. "If given the flexibility to choose more and larger sites, supervisors could more effectively select early voting locations that meet the geographic needs of their voters and reduce the wait times at these locations," Defendant urged. Id. at 5.

The legislature obliged. In May 2013, the Governor signed into law a provision (the "Early Voting Statute") that permits supervisors of elections to "designate any city hall, permanent public library facility, fairground, civic center, courthouse, county commission building, stadium, convention center, government-owned senior center, or government-owned community center as early voting sites." Fla. Stat. § 101.657(1)(a). The Early Vote Statute did not include language from a proposed amendment that would have added "any ... Florida College System institution facility" as an early voting site. ECF No. 24, Ex. D. Nor did the legislature pass other proposed bills that, among other things, explicitly identified universities and colleges as eligible early voting sites. See ECF No. 24, Exs. K, L, & M.

In January 2014, Defendant, through the Division of Elections, issued the Opinion in response to Gainesville's City Attorney's question whether the J. Wayne Reitz Union, located on UF's campus, fit within the "government-owned community center" or "convention center" language in the Early Voting Statute. ECF No. 61, Ex. 1. A group of UF students had approached the Gainesville City Commission about placing an early voting site on campus, prompting the City Attorney to seek clarification from Defendant. Id.

Defendant's answer was a resounding "no." He declared that "[t]he Reitz Union is a structure designed for, and affiliated with, a specific educational institution. It is part of the University of Florida." ECF No. 24, Ex. A, at 3. He then interpreted the Early Voting Statute to exclude as "convention center" and "government-owned community center" the Reitz Union and "any other college- or university-related facilities" as an early voting site. Id. Defendant reasoned that because the Florida legislature declined to include explicit language identifying colleges and universities as early voting sites, "the terms ‘convention center’ and ‘government-owned community center’ cannot be construed so broadly" as to include college or university facilities such as the Reitz Union. Id. Besides citing the unadopted amendment to the Early Voting Statute and other unadopted bills, Defendant offered no other rationale.

Plaintiffs are six university students and two organizations, the League of Women Voters and the Andrew Goodman Foundation.³ Megan Newsome is a 22-year-old recent graduate of the University of Florida who serves as a Puffin Democracy Fellow of the Andrew Goodman Foundation in addition to her on-campus research job. ECF No. 30, at ¶¶ 2–3. Ms. Newsome has voted early in past elections. Id. at ¶ 7. Amol Jethwani is a 21-year-old University of Florida student who has voted early in past elections and has experience arranging rides for fellow students to voting sites in Gainesville. ECF No. 29, at ¶¶ 3, 6–9, 12. Mary "Jamie" Roy is a 20-year-old University of Florida student who serves as a Student Ambassador to the Andrew Goodman Foundation and has voted both early and on Election Day in past elections. ECF No. 32, at ¶¶ 3, 5. Dillon Boatner is a 21-year-old University of Florida student who is a student member of the League of Women Voters. ECF No. 26, at ¶ 3. Alexander Adams is a 19-year-old student at the Florida State University; he has never voted before and intends to vote for the first time in the 2018 election. ECF No. 25, at ¶¶ 3, 8. Anja Rmus is a 19-year-old University of Florida student who has voted both early and on Election Day in past elections. ECF No. 31, at ¶¶ 3, 5.

Plaintiffs Newsome, Jethwani, Roy, and Rmus are residents of and registered to vote in Alachua County. ECF No. 30, at ¶ 2; ECF No. 29, at ¶ 2; ECF No. 32, at ¶ 2; ECF No. 31, at ¶ 2. Plaintiff Boatner is currently registered to vote in Volusia County but intends to change his registration this fall to Alachua County, where he spends the academic year. ECF No. 26, at ¶ 2. Plaintiff Adams is a resident of and registered voter in Leon County. ECF No. 25, at ¶ 2.

Defendant is Florida's Secretary of State. Under Florida law, the Secretary of State is the "chief election officer." Fla. Stat. § 97.012. He is required to "[o]btain and maintain uniformity in the interpretation and implementation of the election laws." Fla. Stat. § 97.012(1). He provides "written direction and opinions to the supervisors of elections on the performance of their official duties." Fla. Stat. § 97.012(16). The supervisors of elections treat Defendant's opinions as "authoritative" and follow them "absent contrary directive." ECF No. 33, at ¶ 16.

All individual Plaintiffs assert various burdens to their own and their peers' voting rights because of Defendant's Opinion. For instance, Mary "Jaime"...