In the wake of the two-year anniversary of the tragedy of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, on Aug. 29, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund filed a lawsuit in federal court to stop Louisiana Secretary of State Jay Dardenne from ordering parish voting registrars to purge from the rolls voters who are in other states. Texas, Mississippi, Florida and Georgia are the main states where Katrina and Rita survivors are residing.
Theodore Shaw, LDF director-general and president, said that “this purge has a clear and pronounced effect on minority voting strength. Until they are able to rebuild and return to their homes, our laws will help ensure that eligible voters retain the right to participate in the political process.”
In June, the state mailed out notices to 55,000 displaced residents to notify the parish where they were originally registered to update their status and to re-register. In July, reminder notices were sent out and the displaced residents were told to come in person to their parish registrar to explain why they should not be purged.
Those who did not respond by Aug. 15 were taken off of the voting rolls. It is estimated that 21,000 voters, mainly African-American, were dropped.
The LDF said that the action taken by Dardenne is in violation of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which requires Louisiana to pre-clear any election law changes with the U.S. Justice Department. The organization seeks to have all of the purged voters restored to their permanent voting status.