NAACP sues Virginia officials, accusing them of disenfranchising student voters

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By Kat Stafford

(Reuters) -The NAACP has sued Virginia state election officials, accusing them of disenfranchising students by rejecting voter registration forms from students that do not include details like dormitory names, room numbers and campus mailbox information.

The largest U.S. civil rights group’s Virginia State Conference along with the Advancement Project, a nonprofit focused on racial justice issues, said in their complaint filed on Friday that requiring those details placed a “discriminatory, arbitrary and unjustified burden” on students living on campus.

The lawsuit said students at several campuses, including historically Black institutions Norfolk State University, Virginia State University and Hampton University, had been affected by the requirements.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on Friday, named several state election officials. The Virginia Department of Elections did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.

“This is a clear attempt to rob students of the right to vote in a state where they study and potentially live once they graduate,” said Anthony P. Ashton, Senior Associate General Counsel at the NAACP, in a statement to Reuters. 

“Virginia’s own voter registration form does not ask for dorm room information, and federal law makes clear that immaterial omissions cannot be used to deny eligible citizens their right to vote. These practices are discriminatory, unlawful, and must stop immediately.” 

Voters in Virginia will cast ballots on Tuesday to elect a new governor and other state officials, among early tests of Democratic and Republican strategies ahead of next year’s congressional midterm elections.

The NAACP argued that the requirements violate the materiality provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.  

The NAACP this year has also sued Texas, Missouri and others in counties across the country over alleged unconstitutional gerrymandering, and against the Trump administration.

The NAACP’s August lawsuit against Texas argues that its congressional map redrawn at the behest of President Donald Trump dilutes the power of Black voters and other communities of color. Republicans have acknowledged they believe winning more congressional seats in Texas will help the party maintain its slim majority in the U.S. House of Representatives in next year’s midterm elections, despite political headwinds.  

“Thousands of young voters on Virginia college campuses want to make their voices heard in this year’s elections, but too many of them are at risk of being disenfranchised by Virginia policies that are restricting students’ access to the ballot,” said John Powers, legal director at the Advancement Project. 

The U.S. Supreme Court is weighing a Republican-led challenge to the Voting Rights Act, which would deal a significant blow to the landmark federal law which was enacted 60 years ago to prevent racial discrimination in voting. 

(Reporting by Kat Stafford. Editing by Deepa Babington)