IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT re~ ~ SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS HOUSTON DIVISION

Transcription

1 United States Courts Southern Dtstrtct of Texas FILED IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT re~ ~ SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS HOUSTON DIVISION ~ChaeIN. Mdby, Clark PRAIRIE VIEW CHAPTER OF THE NAACP, CIVIL ACTION NO. Plaintiff, IJ~O4~O59 WALLER COUNTY, TEXAS; WALLER COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT; WALLER COUNTY ELECTION COMMISSION; LELA LOEWE, Wailer County Election Administrator, Defendants. COMPLAINT FOR INJUNCTION I. INTRODUCTION 1. Plaintiff, the Prairie View Chapter of the NAACP (the PVAMU Chapter ), is an organization comprised entirely of students at Prairie View A&M University ( PVAMU ), a historically black college in Waller County, Texas. Plaintiff seeks temporary and preliminary injunctive relief to prevent officials in Wailer County, Texas from improperly reducing the number of early voting days and the hours of early voting at the Kemp, Smith & Coleman Community Center (the Community Center ) in Prairie View, Wailer County, Texas, without first obtaining judicial or administrative preclearance as required by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, 42 U.S.C. 1973(c) ( Section 5 ). Under Section 5, a covered jurisdiction, such as Wailer County, cannot seek to administer a voting change when it has not received a determination from the United States Attorney General, or the District Court of the District of Columbia, that the proposed change does not have a retrogressive purpose or effect on minority voters. HO1:\289054\O1\671@Ol DOC\99995OOO~

2 II. JURISDICTION 2. This Court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. ~1331, 1343, 1367, and Plaintiffs action for injunctive relief is authorized by 28 U.S.C. ~2201 and 2202 and by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65. Plaintiff is an association representing citizens and students of PVAMU who have standing to bring this action under 42 U.S.C to redress injuries suffered through the deprivation, under color of state law, of rights secured by the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 1973(i)(b) (the Voting Rights Act ). 3. Enforcement actions under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act are required to be heard by a three-judge court pursuant to 28 U.S.C Accordingly, Plaintiff requests the convening of a threejudge court. IlL PARTIES AND STANDING 4. The PVAMU Chapter is an organization comprised of approximately sixty members and housed on the PVAMU campus. The PVAMU Chapter membership is made up entirely of students, some of whom are registered to vote in Wailer County, Texas. The organization is an affiliate of the NAACP, Inc., a/ida The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (the NAACP ), a national civil rights organization. The purpose and aims of the PVAMU Chapter, as well as the NAACP, in pertinent part, are to improve the political station of minority groups, inform students ofthe problems affecting blacks and other minority groups, advance the political station of black people, and develop effective leadership. 5. The PVAMU Chapter devotes its energies to fulfilling this purpose through programs designed to ensure that students at PVAMU are participants in the political process. To that end, the PVAMU Chapter has conducted voter registration drives on campus and encourages its members, through regularly scheduled meetings, to be involved in the HOl :\289054\OI\671@O1 LDOC\ t 2

3 electoral process. Additionally, the PVAMU Chapter educates its members on issues and candidates that are relevant to current political campaigns. 6. Defendant Wailer County, Texas is a political subdivision of the State of Texas. 7. Defendant Wailer County Commissioners Court (the Commissioners Court ) serves as the governing body for Waller County. 8. Defendant Wailer County Election Commission has authority over the conduct of elections in Waller County. 9. Defendant Lela Loewe is the Wailer County Election Administrator ( Election Administrator Loewe ). She is the chief elections official in Wailer County. She is sued in her official capacity. IV. FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS 10. Wailer County is in Texas and abuts the northwest border of Harris County, the county in which Houston is located. According to the 2000 Census, Wailer County has a total population of 32,663, of whom 9,553 (29.2%) are African American. It has a voting age population of 23,277, of whom 7,601 (3 1.3%) are African American. 11. PVAMU is the only university within Wailer County. As of fall 2002, 90% of PVAMU s 7,000 member student body is African American. According to the 2000 Census, the town of Prairie View has a 94.5% African American voting age population. 12. The PVAMU Chapter fulfills its organizational purpose, in part, by conducting voter registration drives on campus, educating its members about candidates and issues at the heart of current political campaigns, and promoting civic participation by advocating that members ofthe PVAMU community vote. 13. Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act requires that any change in voting HO1 :\289054\O1\671@01!DOC\

4 qualifications or prerequisites, or any standard, practice or procedure within a covered jurisdiction be precleared either by a declaratoryjudgment of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, or by the United States Department of Justice (the DOJ ). A covered jurisdiction that implements a voting change without preciearance violates Section Texas and each of its political subdivisions, including Wailer County, have been subject to the preclearance provisions of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act since The most recent precleared change regarding early voting in Wailer County occurred in That precleared change provides for two days of early voting, February 28 and March 1, at the Community Center in Prairie View, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. 16. The precleared submission states that in the primary election in 2000, 777 people had voted early in Prairie View, which was more than any site other than the Wailer County Election Office. The dates of early voting for March 2002 primary election did not conflict with midterm examinations or spring break at PVAMU. 17. The 2002 early voting submission was related to other voting changes that had been submitted by Waller County, including post-census 2000 redistricting plans. The DOJ initially objected to these changes, including the earlyvoting changes. 18. While the submission was pending, Wailer County conducted its primary election even though the changes remained unprecleared. Wailer County s counsel acknowledged this in a letter requesting consideration of the objection. On September 12, 2002, the DOJ precleared the early voting changes. 19. On February 10, 2004, the Commissioners Court met to discuss, among other business, Wailer County s structure for early voting in the primary election to be held on March 9, The Commissioners Court adopted a schedule suggested by Election HO! :\2$9054\0I\671@01!.DOC\

5 Administrator Loewe in a letter to the Commissioners Court. The suggested schedule provides for early voting at the Community Center in Prairie View on February 25, 2004, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The Community Center is the only polling place in Prairie View and is the polling place closest to the PVAMU campus. 20. In the letter, Election Administrator Loewe indicates that members of the community had requested three days of early voting in Prairie View. She states her belief that one or two days would be acceptable. She further notes that it would cost $196 more to have two days of early voting at the Community Center as opposed to one. 21. The February 10, 2004 change, which reduces the opportunities of voters to participate in the early voting process, has not been precleared. Indeed, as of 12:00 p.m., February 13th, the DOJhas not received a Section 5 submission concerning the change. 22. Early voting is particularly important to the PVAMU community in the March 9, 2004 primary election. Midterm examinations at PVAMU are from March 4-6, 2004, followed by one week of spring break. It is reasonable to suspect that the majority of students will leave Waller County during spring break, so they will be unavailable to participate in Election Day. V. CAUSE OF ACTION 23. The allegations of paragraphs 1 thru 22 are hereby incorporated by reference as if set forth fully herein. 24. Defendants implementation of the unprecleared voting change the reduction of the number of days and the hours of early voting at the Community Center violates Section 5 and the Voting Rights Act. HOI:\289054\01\671@01 LDOC\

6 VI. PRAYER FOR RELIEF WHEREFORE, Plaintiff respectfully prays that this Court: (1) Assumes jurisdiction of this action; (2) Issue temporary, preliminary, and permanent injunctive relief that enjoins Defendants from implementing the changes to the number of days and hours of early voting at the Community Center that were adopted by the Commissioners Court on February 10, 2004, unless and until such changes are precleared by the Attorney General of the United States, or the District Court ofthe District ofcolumbia pursuant to Section 5 ofthe Voting Rights Act; (3) Make all further orders as are just, necessary, and proper to ensure that there are two days of early voting from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Community Center on days during which midterm examinations or spring break are not scheduled at PVAMU unless and until any changes relating to early voting are precleared by the Attorney General of the United States or the District Court of the District of Columbia pursuant to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act; (4) Issue an order requiring the Defendants to pay Plaintiffs costs, expenses and reasonable attorneys fees incurred in the prosecution of this action, as authorized by the Civil Rights Attorneys Fees Awards Act of 1976, 42 U.S.C. 1988; and (5) Grant such other and further relief as it deems is proper and just. This 17th day of February, HOl 6

7 Respectfully submitted, By: Jc1~i1~. Greenbaum (~rohac vice application pending) Attorney-In-Charge Jonah H. Goldman (pro hac vice application pending) Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights UnderLaw 1401 New York Avenue, NW, Suite 400 Washington, D.C (202) Facsimile: (202) ~ Gregg Costa State Bar No SD1D Well, Gotshal & Manges LLP 700 Louisiana, Suite 1600 Houston, Texas Telephone (713) Facsimile: (713) ATTORNEYS FOR PLAiNTIFF OF COUNSEL: John C. Brittain Annette M. Lamoreaux ACLU oftexas 3400 Montrose, Suite 312 Houston, Texas (713) Elliot M. Mincberg Deborah Liu People For the American Way Foundation 2000 M Street, NW, Suite 400 Washington, DC (202)

8 J. Goodwille Pierre People For the American Way Foundation 3311 Richmond Ave., Suite 332 Houston, Texas (713) Dennis Courtland Hayes, General Counsel Janette Wipper, Assistant General Counsel NAACP National Headquarters 4805 Mt. Hope Drive Baltimore, MD (410) Facsimile: (410)