Summary
The Eleventh Circuit denied the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s emergency motion to stay a preliminary injunction concerning Florida’s signature-matching requirements for vote-by-mail and provisional ballots. The court applied the Nken stay factors and the Anderson-Burdick framework, concluding that the record showed a serious burden on eligible voters whose ballots could be rejected without a timely opportunity to cure. The court held that the asserted interests in preventing fraud and administering elections did not sufficiently justify the burden.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the National Republican Senatorial Committee satisfied the Nken factors for an emergency stay of the district court's preliminary injunction.
- Whether the NRSC made a strong showing that it was likely to succeed on appeal regarding the constitutionality of Florida's signature-matching and cure procedures under the Anderson-Burdick framework.
- Whether laches barred the district court's prospective relief.
Holdings
- The NRSC was not entitled to an emergency stay because it failed to make the required showing under the Nken factors, including a strong showing of likely success on the merits and irreparable injury.
- The NRSC failed to make a strong showing that laches would bar the plaintiffs' prospective constitutional challenge.
- The Secretary of State was properly sued in her official capacity for prospective injunctive relief because she had responsibility and authority concerning enforcement of the challenged election laws.
Key quotations
“Legitimately cast votes must then be counted.” (915 F.3d at 1313)
“So the fact that a Florida election official may decide a voter’s signature provided with her ballot does not match her signature in the state’s records does not necessarily mean her vote is fraudulent and should not be counted.” (915 F.3d at 1313)
Factual background
Florida required vote-by-mail and certain provisional ballots to be rejected when election officials determined that the voter's signature did not match the signature in state registration records. The signature-review process lacked uniform statewide standards and formal training requirements, and signatures can vary for innocent reasons. Florida's cure deadline could expire before some voters were notified of the mismatch, leading the district court to issue a preliminary injunction allowing certain belatedly notified voters an opportunity to cure.
Procedural history
The Democratic Executive Committee of Florida and the Bill Nelson campaign challenged Florida's signature-matching procedures under the First and Fourteenth Amendments. The Northern District of Florida issued a narrow preliminary injunction allowing certain voters who were belatedly notified of signature mismatches to cure their ballots. The NRSC, joined by the Florida Secretary of State and Attorney General as appellants, sought an emergency stay pending appeal.