When the League of Women Voters (LWV) of St. Louis, Kansas City, and the A. Philip Randolph Institute filed suit against the state of Missouri alleging violations of the National Voter Registration Act in 2018, LWV of St. Louis president Angie Dunlap didn’t foresee that it would become a national issue three years later.
“I don't think we anticipated that it was going to be going on everywhere,” Dunlap told the St. Louis Record. “I did not see it coming. The League has been fighting it for a while even before 2018. We keep hoping that the education of voters and the education of our representatives in Jefferson City will help them realize this is important.”
Voting rights rose to the forefront of national public debate recently after former President Donald Trump and his supporters alleged fraud in the November 2020 elections.
Since then, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Western District of Missouri Judge Brian Wimes’ decision that requires the state to pay more than $1 million in fees and $27,484 in expenses to lawyers who litigated the LWV's case, according to media reports.
“I hope that it would be a lesson for our government officials to recognize that the rights of voters are so important that they wouldn't want to do this just because they would recognize that the rights of voters are that important and if they don't recognize those rights, then it's unfortunate but they have to pay money to be able to learn that lesson,” Dunlap told the St. Louis Record.
It was widely reported that the state appealed the $1.1 million arguing that $286,862 in attorney fees was more fitting or to dismiss the costs entirely.
“It's good the lawyers who have put the effort in to fight for voters are going to be fairly compensated,” Dunlap said. “The amount should be enough to keep the government from not following the rules in the future. If $286,000 doesn’t hurt enough to keep the state in line with what the federal regulations are, then yes it should be enough to make it not happen again.”
As previously reported, the LWV sued the state for allegedly failing to automatically update voter information after residents switched addresses when the National Voter Registration Act requires states to permit their citizens to register to vote even though they may be in the process of securing a new or renewed driver’s license or state identification card.
“The League is founded on the ideals of the Suffragette Movement from a hundred years ago, and they maintained that effort,” Dunlap added. “For years and years and years, they did not give up. They just dug in their heels and worked harder. I think that's what we'll continue to do.”
A suffragette is how a woman who lived in the early 20th century was identified when she fought for the right to vote in public elections.