Segovia v. Bd. of Election Comm'rs for Chi.
| Decision Date | 23 August 2016 |
| Docket Number | Case No. 15 C 10196 |
| Parties | Luis SEGOVIA, Jose Antonio Torres, Pamela Lynn Colon, Tomas Ares, Anthony Bunten, Lavonne Wise, Iraq Afghanistan and Persian Gulf Veterans of The Pacific, and League of Women Voters of the Virgin Islands, Plaintiffs, v. BOARD OF ELECTION COMMISSIONERS FOR the CITY OF CHICAGO, Karen Kinney, United States of America, Ashton Carter, Federal Voting Assistance Program, Matt Boehmer, and Marisel Hernandez, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois |
Geoffrey M. Wyatt, Marisa Bronwyn Van Saanen, Michael A. McIntosh, W. Graham McCall, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, Neil Clifford Weare, We The People Project, Washington, DC, Charles F. Smith, Jr., John Jordan Schoettle, Lara A. Flath, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, LLP CH, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiffs.
James Michael Scanlon, James M. Scanlon & Associates, Chicago, IL, Patricia Castro, Kathy Laura Swett, Rock Island, IL, Caroline J. Anderson, Department of Justice, Federal Programs Branch, Washington, DC, for Defendants.
As Franklin D. Roosevelt famously said in a 1944 radio address from the White House, "Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting." This statement assumes that all United States citizens can vote if they choose to do so. As this case shows, that assumption is incorrect. The plaintiffs in this action are six United States citizens who are former residents of Illinois and who now reside in Puerto Rico, Guam, or the U.S. Virgin Islands, plus two organizations that promote voting rights in United States Territories. The plaintiffs challenge the constitutionality of the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, 52 U.S.C. § 20310 ("UOCAVA"), contending that it violates their equal protection and due process rights by barring them from casting absentee ballots in Illinois for federal elections due to their residence in the United States Territories of Puerto Rico, Guam, or the U.S. Virgin Islands, while allowing United States citizens who were previously qualified to vote in Illinois and currently reside in the United States Territory of the Northern Mariana Islands ("NMI") or in a foreign country to cast absentee Illinois ballots.1
The federal defendants (the United States of America, the Federal Voting Assistance Program, Ashton Carter, in his official capacity as the Secretary of Defense, and Matt Boehmer, in his official capacity as Director of the Federal Voting Assistance Program) filed a motion to dismiss and a motion for summary judgment.2
The plaintiffs filed a cross-motion for summary judgment directed at their claims against the federal defendants. As discussed below, the plaintiffs have standing to challenge the constitutionality of the UOCAVA, the proper standard of review is rational basis, as opposed to strict scrutiny, and under the rational basis standard, the challenged provisions of the UOCAVA are constitutional.
I. BACKGROUND3
The individual plaintiffs (Luis Segovia, Jose Antonio Torres, Pamela Lynn Colon, Tomas Ares, Anthony Bunten, and Lavonne Wise) are United States citizens and former Illinois residents. Before moving from Illinois, the plaintiffs voted in federal elections administered by Illinois. Currently, Mr. Segovia and Mr. Bunten reside in Guam, Mr. Torres and Mr. Ares reside in Puerto Rico, and Ms. Colon and Ms. Wise reside in the U.S. Virgin Islands, all of which are United States Territories.
The individual plaintiffs all have distinguished careers serving the United States in the armed forces and/or as public servants. Because they reside in Puerto Rico, Guam, or the U.S. Virgin Islands, they cannot vote in federal elections via Illinois absentee ballot. In contrast, former Illinois residents who were qualified to vote in federal elections while living in Illinois can cast Illinois absentee ballots in federal elections if they reside in the NMI (pursuant to the UOCAVA), American Samoa (pursuant to Illinois MOVE), or a foreign country.
Plaintiff Jose Antonio Torres is a United States citizen born in 1955 in Ponce, Puerto Rico, who currently resides in Carolina, Puerto Rico. Mr. Torres is a Vietnam-era Veteran who has a combined 100% disability rating by virtue of injuries sustained during his military service. He was recruited to join the United States Army as a high school student in Ponce, Puerto Rico. In 1973, he was stationed in Germany as part of the 141st Field Artillery, a posting that required top secret clearance. He was honorably discharged in 1975 due to severe injuries he sustained in Germany.
Mr. Torres resided in Chicago from 1982 to 1993. He began working for the United States Postal Service in 1986. He was transferred from Illinois to Puerto Rico in 1993, where he continued to work for the Postal Service for another fifteen years until he retired in 2008 after 22 years of federal service. As a federal employee in Puerto Rico, Mr. Torres was required to pay the same federal taxes, including federal income tax, as federal employees living on the mainland. When Mr. Torres resided in Illinois, he voted for President; he now votes in Puerto Rico elections.
Plaintiff Tomas Ares is a United States citizen born in San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico in 1955, where he currently resides. From 1967 to 2007, he resided in Chicago, Illinois. He then retired and moved to Puerto Rico. He is a Vietnam-era Veteran who joined the U.S. Army in 1971 at the age of 17, following the footsteps of his father, who was born in Puerto Rico in 1902 and served in the U.S. Army's 65th Infantry from 1920 through 1944. After Mr. Ares was stationed in Germany, he was honorably discharged in 1972 because he was not of the legal age to serve. When Mr. Ares resided in Illinois, he voted for President; he now votes in Puerto Rico elections.
Plaintiff Luis Segovia is a United States citizen born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1978. He moved from Chicago to Guam in 2010 and is a decorated veteran. He served in the U.S. Army in Iraq from 2005 to 2006, where his primary mission was to provide security for the 2005 Iraqi elections. He then served in the Illinois National Guard, where he was deployed to Afghanistan from 2008 to 2009. He joined the Guam National Guard in 2010 after becoming a resident of Guam, and was deployed for a ten-month second tour of duty in Afghanistan. He was recently promoted to the rank of Staff Sergeant, and also serves his country as a federal employee with the Department of the Navy's civilian security forces police assigned to Anderson Air Force Base in Guam. When Mr. Segovia resided in Illinois, he voted for President; he now votes in Guam elections.
Plaintiff Anthony Bunten is a United States citizen born in Moline, Illinois in 1976. Mr. Bunten is a Veteran who joined the U.S. Navy directly out of high school in 1994. He was honorably discharged in 1997, when he moved to Guam to join his now-wife, Barbara Perez Hattori. When Mr. Bunten resided in Illinois, he voted for President; he now votes in Guam elections.
Plaintiff Pamela Lynn Colon is a United States citizen born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1959. She lived in Chicago until 1992, when she moved to the U.S. Virgin Islands, and currently resides in St. Croix. From 1996 to 2000, Ms. Colon served as the Assistant Federal Public Defender in St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. She has defended numerous clients in the U.S. Virgin Islands who were federally prosecuted, including several who faced the possibility of life in prison or the death penalty. She is the past-President of the Virgin Islands Bar Association. When Ms. Colon resided in Illinois, she voted for President; she now votes in elections in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Plaintiff Lavonne Wise is a United States citizen born in Queens, New York; she currently resides in St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. From 2003 to 2009, she resided in Chicago, Illinois. As a resident of Chicago in 2008, Ms. Wise voted for President by absentee ballot while temporarily working in St. Croix, but after she became a resident of St. Croix in 2009, she became unable to vote for President. She now regularly votes in elections in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Previously, from 1990-1992, Ms. Wise moved from Atlanta, Georgia, to St. Maarten, Netherland Antilles. While living in St. Maarten, Ms. Wise was able to vote for President via absentee ballot.
The remaining plaintiffs are the Iraq Afghanistan and Persian Gulf Veterans of the Pacific ("IAPGVP") and the League of Women Voters of the Virgin Islands ("LWV-VI"). IAPGVP is a nonprofit organization founded in 2014 whose mission is to provide opportunities to engage, enrich, and empower Pacific Island veterans of Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Persian Gulf and their families. While up to one in eight adults in Guam is a veteran and the casualty rate for Guam soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan has been up to 4.5 times the national average, in 2012, Guam ranked below every State in medical-care spending per veteran. IAPGVP's position is that political disenfranchisement contributes to the healthcare crisis facing Guam veterans. LWV-VI was founded in 1968 and is a non-profit, non-partisan political organization. Its main goal is to give a voice to all Americans by expanding voter participation. LWV-VI's position is that continuing political disenfranchisement contributes to many hardships facing Virgin Islanders, including economic development, healthcare, and the environment.
The plaintiffs allege that unspecified former Illinois residents are members of both organizational plaintiffs. IAPGVP and LWV-VI posit that allowing United States...
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