Numerous NYC voters, including a disproportionate number of Latino voters in Brooklyn, were unable to vote during the Presidential primary because they had improperly purged from the voting rolls, LJP subsequently joined with Common Cause-NY, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil rights and Dechert LLP to file a voting rights lawsuit on the eve of the November 2016 election contending that NYC Board of Elections had improperly removed voters in violation of the Nat’l Voter Registration Act of 1993 which prohibits election officials from removing registered voters from the voter rolls in federal elections unless certain preliminary steps verifying the voter has not moved, responded to a notice or not voted in the two preceding election cycles. After an emergency hearing, the court issued an order requiring NYC poll workers to provide affidavit ballots to any individual who believed they had been registered to vote but whose name did not appear on the registration rolls.

In January 2017, both the U.S. Department of Justice and the NY Attorney General’s were granted intervention into the action. The NYAG complaint in intervention contains detailed allegations about additional state and federal voting rights violations by the defendant BOE 

The court on December 7, 2017 issued an order approving proposed Consent Decree mandating certain reforms, and Judgment was issued on December 14, 2017.  Government and private plaintiffs continue to monitor defendants’ compliance and reforms implemented pursuant to the consent decree. Defendant also agreed to pay $177,250.00 in attorneys’ fees.