Decline in Voting Civil Rights Lawsuits
Number Latest Month 9 Percent Change from previous month -25.0% Percent Change from 1 year ago -36.7% Percent Change from 5 years ago -22.5%
Table 1. Voting Civil FilingsThe latest available data from the federal courts show that during June 2013 the government reported the filing of 9 new voting civil rights lawsuits. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 25.0 percent over the previous month when there were 12 filings of this type.
The comparisons of the number of civil filings for voting-related suits are based on case-by-case court records which were compiled and analyzed by TRAC (see Table 1).
When monthly 2013 civil filings of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, their number was down 36.7 percent. These filings are lower than they were for the same period five years ago; overall, the data show that civil filings of this type are down 22.5 percent from levels reported in June 2008.
The long term trend in voting civil filings going back five years is shown more clearly in Figure 1. The vertical bars in Figure 1 represent the number of voting civil filings of this type recorded each month. The superimposed line on the bars plots the six-month moving average so that natural fluctuations are smoothed out. One-year and five-year change comparisons are based upon the moving averages.
Lawsuits Filed
Table 2 lists the voting civil rights lawsuits filed in June 2013.
District Case Number Date Filed Case Title Cause of Action Fla, S 1:2013cv22172 2013-06-18 Reed v. State of Florida, Division of Elections et al 05:7703 Discrimination - Review of Agency Act Ga, M 5:2013cv00232 2013-06-27 Jones v. Macon-Bibb County Board of Elections et al 42:1983 Civil Rights Act Hawaii 1:2013cv00301 2013-06-17 Democratic Party of Hawaii v. Nago 42:1983 Civil Rights Act N.J. 2:2013cv03450 2013-06-04 Robinson v. Commissioner of Social Security, et al 42:1983 Civil Rights Act Penn, E 2:2013cv03642 2013-06-24 Ellis v. Bureau of Commissions Elections and Legislation et al 42:1981 Civil Rights Tenn, W 2:2013cv02470 2013-06-26 Conglis v. Methodist Healthcare Tennessee 28:1331 Federal Question: Other Civil Rights Texas, S 2:2013cv00193 2013-06-26 Veasey et al v. Perry et al 42:1973 Voting Rights Act Texas, S 4:2013cv01635 2013-06-04 Hubbard et al v. Lone Star College System et al 42:1973 Voting Rights Act Texas, S 4:2013cv01786 2013-06-19 North Forest Independent School District et al v. Texas Education Agency et al 42:1973 Voting Rights Act Table 2. Voting Civil Filings, June 2013Each month, TRAC offers a free report focused on one area of civil litigation in the U.S. district courts. In addition, subscribers to the TRACFed data service can generate custom reports by district, office, nature of suit or federal jurisdiction via the TRAC Data Interpreter.
Report Date: July 29, 2013
