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1 No Remedy for the Malfunction of a Voter Registration Website because the State Provided a Small Remedy 1 (2021)

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CASE STUDIES IN EMERGENCY ELECTION LITIGATION


                No  Remedy for the Malfunction
                of  a Voter   Registration Website
        Because the State Provided a Small Remedy
                          Namphy v.   DeSantis
               (Mark  E.  Walker,  N.D.  Fla. 4:20-cv-485)
       A voter registration website malfunctioned on the last day of regis-
       tration. A district judge determined that the secretary of state's rem-
       edy of extending the registration deadline by a few hours was inade-
       quate, but not so inadequate as to require the court's intervention.
           Subject: Registration procedures. Topics: Registration
       procedures; COVID-19.
According  to a federal complaint filed in the Northern District of Florida on
October  6, 2020, On October 5, 2020, the last day to register to vote in the
upcoming   Presidential Election, Florida's online voter registration ('OVR')
system crashed, going offline for several hours. This followed several days dur-
ing which the system crashed intermittently.' Plaintiffs were four organiza-
tions and a person who was unable to register on October 5; defendants were
Florida's governor and its secretary of state.2 With their complaint, the plain-
tiffs filed a motion for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunc-
tion extending the voter registration deadline to midnight on the second day
after the requested injunction.3 On the next day, the individual plaintiff filed a
voluntary dismissal.4
    On the day that the case was filed, Judge Mark E. Walker set it for a tele-
phonic  scheduling conference at 8:30 on the following morning.' The  case
arose at a time of social distancing made necessary by a global COVID-19 in-
fectious pandemic.6 Contact information for the conference appeared on the
public docket sheet.7 On the evening before the conference, Judge Walker de-
nied immediate  relief, noting that Florida had voluntarily extended the regis-
tration deadline to 7:00 p.m. on October 6 and  deciding that no relief was

   1. Complaint at 1, Namphy v. DeSantis, No. 4:20-cv-485 (N.D. Fla. Oct. 6, 2020), D.E. 1;
see Namphy v. DeSantis, __ F. Supp. 3d __, __, 2020 WL 5994268 (N.D. Fla. 2020) (p.5 of
opinion filed at N.D. Fla. No. 4:20-cv-485, D.E 36); see also Jeffrey Schweers, Voter Registra-
tion Extended a Day; Unprecedented Overload Crashed Site; Lawsuit Filed, Tallahassee Dem-
ocrat, Oct. 7, 2020, at A2.
   2. Complaint, supra note 1; see Namphy, __ F. Supp. 3d at __, 2020 WL 5994268 (p.5 of
opinion filed at N.D. Fla. No. 4:20-cv-485, D.E 36).
   3. Motion, Namphy, No. 4:20-cv-485 (N.D. Fla. Oct. 6, 2020), D.E. 3; see Namphy, __ F.
Supp. 3d at __, 2020 WL 5994268 (p.5 of opinion filed at N.D. Fla. No. 4:20-cv-485, D.E 36).
   4. Notice, Namphy, No. 4:20-cv-485 (N.D. Fla. Oct. 7, 2020), D.E. 25; see Order, id. (Oct.
8, 2020), D.E. 27 (noting that the case remained active as to the other plaintiffs); Amended
Complaint, id. (Oct. 9, 2020), D.E. 37.
   5. Order, id. (Oct. 6, 2020), D.E. 4.
   6. See Namphy, __ F. Supp. 3d at __, 2020 WL 5994268 (pp. 11, 25, 27 of opinion filed
at N.D. Fla. No. 4:20-cv-485, D.E 36).
   7. Docket Sheet, Namphy, No. 4:20-cv-485 (N.D. Fla. Oct. 6, 2020) (D.E. 5).


Federal Judicial Center 1/20/2021


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