2023 is neither a presidential nor mid-term election year but nevertheless there are extensive efforts underway across the country to combat a host of recent measures meant to restrict the right to vote. The Bloomberg and Proskauer communities recently came together at Bloomberg’s headquarters in New York for a discussion highlighting those efforts, addressing the health of our democracy, and presenting a call to action for the hundreds who attended this lunchtime event.

Moderated by Bloomberg reporter Greg Farrell, the speakers included Casey Smith, an Equal Justice Works Fellow funded by Bloomberg and Proskauer who works for the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, and Godfre Blackman, a Proskauer associate who recently served as the firm’s NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) Fellow, which enabled him to work directly with the LDF on various voting rights issues.

Here are some of the efforts restricting the right to vote around the country that were discussed during the event:

Georgia: The Georgia Legislature passed Senate Bill 202 in 2021, a nearly 100-page voter law that restricts absentee voting and makes voting more burdensome, especially for voters of color, people with disabilities, and other historically disenfranchised communities. Along with other civil rights groups, the ACLU has challenged this legislation in court under the Voting Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Rehabilitation Act. (For more information see AME Church v. Kemp).

Florida: In 2018, Florida voters passed a constitutional amendment enabling citizens with felony convictions to have their right to vote automatically restored, but in response, the Legislature passed a law requiring people to pay all the fines and fees they owe before they could regain their voting rights. Now, Florida is prosecuting individuals for registering to vote or voting while ineligible; most of those prosecuted are Black Floridians who believed they were eligible to vote.  Florida has no centralized system for people to find out what they owe in legal fines and fees, so it is impossible for many to even know whether they are eligible. In many cases, Florida even encouraged the person to vote, and then later prosecuted them for doing so. These prosecutions intimidate even eligible voters from trying to register or vote. (For more information see 10 Reasons Courts should Toss Florida’s Flimsy Voter Fraud Prosecutions.) Florida’s voter registration form also does not tell voters with a prior felony conviction the eligibility requirements, even though federal law requires states to provide that kind of information on voter registration forms. The LDF and ACLU are challenging Florida’s form in federal court. (For more information see LWV Florida v. Byrd NVRA Lawsuit.) In addition, the LDF worked to introduce and support bills that would create a statewide system where returning citizens could determine their eligibility to vote and would also create affirmative defenses to crimes of voter fraud in instances where the state had evidence of someone’s ineligibility to vote and either failed to notify the person or affirmatively sent voter registration cards. Unfortunately, that effort has not yet been successful.

The state of Florida also passed a law adversely impacting community-based voter registration organizations. Among other things, the legislation reduced the timeframe for these organizations to submit registration and increased maximum fines to $250,000.  Of note here, Black and Latino voters are twice as likely to register to vote through community-based registration organizations as white voters.

Texas: In 2016, Crystal Mason had no idea that Texas considered her to be ineligible to vote due to a prior felony conviction. She filled out and submitted a provisional ballot, but later, she was arrested for illegal voting and then sentenced to five years in prison. The ACLU is appealing her conviction. In 2022, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ordered the lower court to review her conviction, saying that law required the state to show Ms. Mason actually knew she was ineligible to vote in 2016. The lower court heard arguments in April 2023, where Ms. Mason’s lawyers from the ACLU argued the state didn’t have enough evidence to prove Ms. Mason knew that the state considered her ineligible.

Mississippi: In 2023, Mississippi’s legislature passed Senate Bill 2358, a law that makes it a crime for anyone other than certain family members, “caregivers,” election officials, or postal workers to return someone’s ballot. The law deters friends, neighbors, and staff members from institutions like long-term care facilities or jails from helping people return their ballots, even though the federal Voting Rights Act allows people with disabilities to get assistance with voting from anyone they choose. The ACLU, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the Mississippi Center for Justice, representing the League of Women Voters of Mississippi and Disability Rights Mississippi, filed a lawsuit challenging the law in May 2023. (For more information see Lawsuit challenges bill that blocks most Mississippians from helping friends, neighbors deliver absentee ballots.)

Call to Action

Bloomberg and Proskauer volunteers are committed to supporting organizations fighting for justice throughout the country, including efforts to protect voting rights. Kim Rutan, who heads Bloomberg’s Legal & Compliance Department’s Pro Bono Program, encouraged the audience to get more involved in pro bono work supporting this important cause. Proskauer has played a leading role in coordinating election protection efforts over the past 17 years.

Print:
Email this postTweet this postLike this postShare this post on LinkedIn
Photo of Wendy Dessy Wendy Dessy

Wendy Hattler Dessy is the director of corporate social responsibility for Proskauer. She oversees all aspects of employee engagement, board service and corporate social responsibility for the Firm..

Through a host of initiatives, the Firm endeavors to advance education, raise awareness of veterans’…

Wendy Hattler Dessy is the director of corporate social responsibility for Proskauer. She oversees all aspects of employee engagement, board service and corporate social responsibility for the Firm..

Through a host of initiatives, the Firm endeavors to advance education, raise awareness of veterans’ issues, and improve opportunities for women in Africa through literacy and education.

Some of her most impactful programming has included creating an Adopt-a-School initiative, and establishing partnerships with both The Institute for Veterans and Military Families and Village Health Works. Wendy has also created local partnerships across the country in the cities and communities where Proskauer employees live and work.

Prior to joining Proskauer, Wendy served as Executive Director for NYC Cool Roofs and Manager of Public/Private Partnerships for the Mayor’s Office of Service and Volunteerism from 2010 to 2014. Wendy held various positions within the Bloomberg administration and campaigns from 2005 to 2010.

Photo of William C. Silverman William C. Silverman

William C. Silverman is a partner responsible for leading Proskauer’s global pro bono efforts, which provide assistance to individual clients and nonprofit organizations in litigation as well as transactional matters. He focuses on identifying and securing pro bono opportunities and partnerships for Proskauer…

William C. Silverman is a partner responsible for leading Proskauer’s global pro bono efforts, which provide assistance to individual clients and nonprofit organizations in litigation as well as transactional matters. He focuses on identifying and securing pro bono opportunities and partnerships for Proskauer lawyers and ensuring widespread participation in these projects.

Bill has robust private and public sector experience and a strong criminal and civil background. He has worked extensively on government investigations and white collar criminal matters, as well as complex civil litigation in federal and state courts. He also served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, where he led criminal investigations, conducted trials and handled Second Circuit appeals.

Throughout his career, Bill has dedicated himself to the promotion of equal access to justice through pro bono service, particularly in the area of family court, anti-trafficking, and immigration.

Bill spearheaded a partnership among several law firms, corporations and the New York City Family Court to provide free legal advice to pro se litigants. The New York City Family Court Volunteer Attorney Program now has more than 400 volunteer attorneys from 40 major firms and corporations. Bill also helped build a coalition of organizations in a successful effort to secure additional Family Court judges in New York. He is now part of an effort spearheaded by Chief Judge Janet DiFiore to simplify the New York Court System from 11 trial courts to three.

Bill serves as counsel to the New York State Anti-Trafficking Coalition. In that capacity he has been a strong advocate for changes in the law and public policy to protect victims of human trafficking and bring perpetrators to justice. He also represents individual clients in this area, including a successful federal lawsuit brought on behalf of a trafficking victim against her traffickers. For his work, he was named by domestic violence nonprofit Sanctuary For Families as one of “New York’s New Abolitionists.”

Bill has spoken at numerous conferences and events, including New York Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman’s Hearings on Civil Legal Services and the American Bar Association’s Equal Justice Conference. In 2014, he attended a meeting at the White House with Vice President Joe Biden and other policymakers on the need for access to legal services in immigration proceedings.

Bill has been recognized for his public service with the Abely Pro Bono Leadership Award from Sanctuary For Families and Columbia Law School (2019); the Special Leadership Award for All-Around Excellence in Corporate Social Responsibility & the Law from City & State Reports (2015); the Commitment to Justice Award for Outstanding Partner from inMotion (2008); and the Matthew G. Leonard Award for Outstanding Pro Bono Achievement from MFY Legal Services (2007).

Outside of his work at the firm, Bill serves on various committees and non-profit boards. Bill is currently chairman of the Fund for Modern Courts, a non-partisan citizen organization devoted to improving New York State courts, and is formerly chairman of Legal Information For Families Today (LIFT), an organization devoted to unrepresented litigants in Family Court.