Judge: Agencies violated voter registration law

A federal judge has ruled that Louisiana public assistance agencies have violated a law requiring them to provide voter registration forms to anyone who requests them, whether online, in person, or by mail or phone. U.S. District Judge Jane Triche-Milazzo issued a permanent injunction Wednesday against the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services, Department of Health and Hospitals, and Secretary of State Tom Schedler’s office. The injunction gives them until March 15 to implement policies and procedures that bring them into full compliance with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. Triche-Milazzo says the agencies have taken steps to comply with the law but need to do more. The judge sided with the Louisiana State Conference of the NAACP, which had filed a lawsuit against the agencies’ heads in 2011. She ruled the plaintiffs are entitled to attorneys’ fees and costs and gave them 21 days to request an amount. Dale Ho, an attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund in New York, says the ruling will require Louisiana to help “our most vulnerable fellow citizens” register to vote. He has estimated roughly 88% of the more than 300,000 people who apply for Medicaid in Louisiana annually do so remotely rather than in person: about 70% apply by mail, while roughly 18% apply online, he says.