Segovia v. Bd. of Election Comm'rs for Chi.
| Decision Date | 28 October 2016 |
| Docket Number | Case No. 15 C 10196 |
| Parties | Luis SEGOVIA, et al., Plaintiffs, v. BOARD OF ELECTION COMMISSIONERS FOR THE CITY OF CHICAGO, et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois |
Charles F. Smith, Jr., Lara A. Flath, John Jordan Schoettle, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, LLP, Chicago, IL, 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, for Plaintiffs.
James Michael Scanlon, James M. Scanlon & Associates, Chicago, IL, Patricia Castro, Kathy Laura Swett, Rock Island, IL, Deepthy Kishore, Justin M. Sandberg, Caroline J. Anderson, U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Division, Federal Programs Branch, Washington, DC, for Defendants.
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 defendants are comprised of state and federal voting-related commissions and groups, as well as the United States of America and several individuals sued in their official capacities. A complete description of the parties and the underlying factual history of the case can be found in this court's August 23, 2016 Memorandum Opinion and Order (the "prior order") [63].
Before the court is the plaintiffs' second motion for summary judgment [70] and the federal defendants' cross-motion for summary judgment [77]. The plaintiffs raise two main arguments: first, they challenge the constitutionality of the Illinois Military Overseas Voter Empowerment Act ("Illinois MOVE"), arguing that this statute violates their equal protection rights by excluding former Illinois voters now living in Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands ("USVI") from voting by Illinois absentee ballot in federal elections, while allowing former Illinois residents living in American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands ("NMI") to vote absentee. Second, the plaintiffs contend that Illinois MOVE and the Uniformed and Overseas Citizen Absentee Voting Act ("UOCAVA"), infringe upon their substantive due process right to interstate travel.
As discussed below, the court concludes that Illinois MOVE does not violate the plaintiffs' equal protection rights because this statute's different treatment of former Illinois residents living in various U.S. territories is rationally related to legitimate state interests. These legitimate state interests include the synchronization of Illinois MOVE with applicable federal overseas and absentee voting laws such as the UOCAVA's predecessor statute, the Overseas Citizens Voting Rights Act ("OCVRA"). In arriving at this conclusion, the court rejects the plaintiffs' request for strict scrutiny review of Illinois MOVE and applies instead the more lenient rational basis review.
The plaintiffs' briefs focus extensively on the fact that Illinois MOVE tracks the language of the UOCAVA's predecessor statute, the OCVRA, instead of the more recent UOCAVA. However, the court notes that the practical effect of Illinois MOVE's alleged "outdatedness" is the enfranchisement of more former Illinois citizens living in U.S. territories than federal law currently provides. This consequence of enhanced absentee voting rights does not create a constitutional inequality because Congress specifically has authorized the states to provide more generous voting rights than those provided by the UOCAVA.
The court also rejects the plaintiffs' argument that Illinois MOVE and the UOCAVA unconstitutionally burden their right to interstate travel. The plaintiffs' inability to vote in federal elections by absentee ballot in their respective territories stems not from a violation of their right to travel, but from the constitutional status of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the USVI.
Thus, the court denies the plaintiffs' second motion for summary judgment and grants the federal defendants' cross-motion for summary judgment.
Before turning to the parties' summary judgment arguments, the court first identifies the three statutes involved in the court's ruling and the key definitions of each:
The Overseas Citizens Voting Rights Act (OCVRA), Pub. L. 94–203, 89 Stat. 1142, was enacted in 1976 and provided uniform procedures for absentee voting in federal elections. This federal statute imposed a range of responsibilities on the states, including Illinois, relating to absentee voting by citizens of the United States residing overseas, as those terms are defined in the statute. It has now been repealed but nevertheless is relevant in this case. It contained the following definitions:
The Uniformed and Overseas Citizen Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), 52 U.S.C. § 20302, replaced the OCVRA in 1986. It also imposes a range of responsibilities on the states, including Illinois, relating to absentee voting in federal elections by uniformed service members or overseas voters, as those terms are defined in the statute. It contains the following definitions:
Illinois MOVE, 10 Ill. Comp. Stat. § 5/20–1 et seq., likewise addresses absentee voting for Illinois residents who live overseas. It contains the following relevant definition:
• "Territorial limits of the United States" means each of the several States of the United States and includes the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands; but does not include American Samoa, the Canal Zone, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands or any other territory or possession of the United States. 10 Ill. Comp. Stat. § 5/20–1(1).
Putting these three statutes together, the following result occurs: under the now repealed OCVRA, former Illinois residents living in Puerto Rico, Guam, and the USVI were not eligible to vote by absentee ballot because they were included within the statute's definitions of "State" and the "United States." Former Illinois residents living in the NMI and American Samoa were not similarly included in these definitions and thus could vote absentee. Under the UOCAVA, the same result occurred except that American Samoa also was included within the definition of "State" and "United States" so former Illinois residents living in American Samoa lost the ability to vote by absentee ballot. Under Illinois MOVE, which tracks the language of the OCVRA (the reason for this will be discussed at length below), American Samoa and the NMI are not included within the definition of the "[t]erritorial limits of the United States" and thus former Illinois residents living in either American Samoa or the NMI retain the right to vote by absentee ballot, although former Illinois residents living in Puerto Rico, Guam, and the USVI are not afforded this right.1
Illinois MOVE's tracking of the OCVRA instead of the UOCAVA creates a difference in treatment as to American Samoa that goes to the heart of the plaintiffs' equal protection argument: under Illinois MOVE, former Illinois residents living in American Samoa may vote by absentee ballot. Had Illinois updated its election laws following the OCVRA's repeal in 1986 to mirror the newly enacted UOCAVA, these residents of American Samoa would have lost their right to absentee vote.
Having identified the operative statutes and their effect upon territorial residents, the court moves to the plaintiffs' first argument: that Illinois MOVE violates their right to equal protection under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution because they (residents of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the USVI who were formerly registered to vote in Illinois) are denied the right to vote absentee in federal elections while former Illinois citizens living in American Samoa and the NMI are afforded this right. The plaintiffs also focus upon the fact that Illinois MOVE tracks the language of the repealed OCVRA and thus treats American Samoa differently from the more recent UOCAVA. This, they contend, is arbitrary and violates their right to equal protection. The plaintiffs maintain that Illinois MOVE's disparate treatment of former Illinois residents living in various U.S. territories violates the Equal Protection Clause under any level of scrutiny, but they seek the application of a strict scrutiny standard of review.2
A. Standard of Review
The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that "[n]o State shall ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." U.S.C.A. Const. Amend. XIV, § 1. "The guarantee of equal protection coexists, of course, with the reality that most legislation must classify for some purpose or another." Perry v. Schwarzenegger , 704 F.Supp.2d 921, 995 (N.D. Cal. 2010). When evaluating an equal protection claim, the court must first determine the appropriate standard of review, whether "strict...
To continue reading
Request your trial
- Maximum Indep. Brokerage, LLC v. Smith, 16 C 5548
-
Segovia v. United States
...opinions. Segovia v. Bd. of Election Commrs. , 201 F.Supp.3d 924 (N.D. Ill. 2016) ( Segovia I ); Segovia v. Bd. of Election Commrs. , 218 F.Supp.3d 643 (N.D. Ill. 2016) ( Segovia II ). The plaintiffs timely appealed.II. AnalysisA. Standing to Challenge the UOCAVA Nobody doubts that the plai......