Litigation

Center for Election Confidence (formerly known as Lawyers Democracy Fund) seeks to promote trust in the electoral process. One way CEC supports fair and accurate elections is engaging strategically in litigation: filing amicus curiae briefs and financially supporting legal challenges.

Current CEC-Supported Litigation

Gavery v. Harris

CEC-supported Milwaukee elector and election observer Justin Gavery filed a verified complaint with the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) against Milwaukee Election Commission (MEC) Deputy Director Maricha Harris and Executive Director Paulina Gutiérrez. The complaint alleges four failures arising from Milwaukee’s August 11, 2026, primary election: incorrect transmission of tabulator data, failure to provide required notice of a meeting of the Municipal Board of Absentee Ballot Canvassers, untimely notice of pre-election tabulator testing, and serious restrictions on observer access. Gavery asks WEC to investigate and order corrective measures before the November general election.

Recent CEC-Supported Litigation

Honig v. Wisconsin Elections Commission

Defendant-Intervenors Billie L. Johnson and Kendall E. Post, who were supported in their efforts by CEC, moved to intervene in a suit in Dane County, Wisconsin, Circuit Court to protect their votes against dilution ordered by the Wisconsin Elections Commission to account for 23 unlawful ballots apparently improperly included in the final election returns.  Despite an initial denial of intervention without prejudice, proposed Defendant-Intervenors succeeded at argument in convincing the court to limit the case to an as-applied challenge. The Court returned the drawn-down ballots to the final count. However, plaintiffs returned to ask for the court’s previous ruling to be expanded to apply to all “Wisconsin election law”, well beyond the facts pleaded in the case. Johnson and Post were granted intervention. On October 13, 2026, the court issued a decision and order that stopped far short of the broad rule requested by Plaintiffs. Instead, the court held that an absentee voter who completed the ballot correctly and returned it to the municipal clerk in time to reach the polling place by 8:00 p.m. cannot have their ballot rejected if the ballot missed that deadline solely because of an election official’s act or omission. The court expressly limited its holding to the facts in Honig and devoted a section of its decision and order to discuss the very limits Johnson and Post requested as an alternative to dismissal.

Kopecki v. Lackawanna County

The Center for Election Confidence (CEC) backed a lawsuit in federal court on behalf of Eugene Kopecki, a Korean War veteran whose constitutional right to vote was violated by the County of Lackawanna, Pennsylvania, on Primary Election Day 2025. Mr. Kopecki also alleged that his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated. On August 3, 2026, a federal court entered a consent decree, which resolved all claims without assigning fault. Lackawanna County must adopt a comprehensive election procedures manual and task checklists, require two election officers to sign off on ballot accuracy, and institute comprehensive, ongoing training for election workers. The court will retain jurisdiction to enforce these requirements for three years “to improve election administration going forward to prevent future disenfranchisement of Plaintiff and other citizens.”