us
Department of Justice
Civil Rights Division
Olfice ofthe Ansett Astorney Genera Wastingron, DAC. 20530
SEP 08 206
The Honorable Luther Strange
Attorney General
Office of the Attorney General
501 Washington Avenue
Montgomery, Alabama 36104
luther.strange@ago.state.al.us
Dear Attorney General Strange:
This is to notify you that J have authorized a lawsuit against the State of Alabama and
appropriate state officiais to enforce Section 5 of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993
(NVRA), 52 U.S.C. § 20504,
Section 5 of the NVRA requires that each Alabama “motor vehicle driver's license
application (including any renewal application) submitted to the appropriate State motor vehicle
authority under State law shall serve as an application for voter registration with respect to
clections for Federal office unless the applicant fails to sign the voter registration application.”
52 U.S.C. § 20504(a}(1). Section 5 also sets out specific requirements for the voter registration,
component of a driver’s license application, such as barring duplicate requests for information
(other than information such as a second signature) and limiting the information that may be
requested. /d, § 20504(c). Section 5 separately requires that a change of address form for motor
vehicle driver's license purposes also serve as notification of a change of address for voter
registration purposes, absent a written declination by the registrant. Jd. § 20504(d). Finally,
Section 5 requires motor vehicle authorities to transmit the completed voter registration portion
of a driver’s license application to appropriate election officials by statutory deadlines.
§ 20504(¢).
Our investigation indicates widespread noncompliance with Section 5 in Alabama.
‘Throughout the State, it appears that applications for an Alabama driver’s license or a non-driver
Jentification card do not serve as applications for voter registration with respect to elections for
Federal office, and that change of address submissions for driver license purposes do not serve as
notification of a change of address for voter regisiration purposes. And while it appears the
State’s motor vehicle offices may at times provide Alabama’s mail-in voter registration form
(NVRA-2) or agency-based voter registration form (NVRA-1B) to applicants who specifically
request them, that practice is no substitute for compliance with the requirements of the NVRA.
Many of those motor vehicle offices, moreover, will not accept and transmit completed voterregistration forms to the appropriate election authorities, These failures violate the NVRA and
deprive numerous Alabama citizens of important voter registration opportunities required under
federal law.
‘We hope to resolve this matter amicably and avoid protracted litigation, Accordingly, we
will delay filing the complaint for a short period to permit us to try to settle this matter via
consent decree to be filed with the complaint, Dan Freeman, an attomey with the Voting Section
of the Civil Rights Division, will call your office shortly to determine whether the State wishes
to pursue negotiations aimed at settlement. He may be reached at (202) 305-4355.
‘Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Sincerely,
Vanita Gupta,
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General
cc: The Honorable John H, Merrill
Alabama Secretary of State
The Honorable Spencer Collict
Seoretary of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency