Facts

Plaintiffs Christina Fugazi, Lex Gonzalez, Annette Zimmer, and others, filed a putative class action against Defendants Alex Padilla, in his official capacity as the Secretary of State of California, Melinda Dubroff, in her official capacity as the San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters, and others over the Presidential Primary Election held on March 3, 2020. In general, voters are permitted to submit their votes by a mail-in-ballot and upon receiving Vote-by-Mail ballots, the Registrar is required ensure the identification envelope is signed, and then proceeds to compare the voters' signature on the identification envelope with information in the voters' registration records to ensure the signature is a match. However, if the Registrar determines the signature does not match, or the envelope is missing a signature, the Registrar is required to provide notice to all identified voters at least eight days before the certification of the election to give voters the opportunity to verify or sign their envelopes. In March, the deadline for the Registrar to certify the vote was extended by executive order, and the Secretary of State's memorandum, to no later than April 21, 2020, because of the COVID 19 pandemic's impacts on the election process. But the Registrar exercised her discretion to certify on April 5. Plaintiff alleged that she failed to notify some voters to cure their unsigned or non-compared signature before certification as required by statute. Thereafter Plaintiffs filed a class action suit and sought injunctive and declaratory relief addressing Defendants' alleged denial of certain Plaintiffs' right to vote in the March 3, 2020 election. Plaintiffs asserted causes of action that involved violations of Plaintiffs' First and Fourteenth Amendment Rights of the U.S. Constitution; violation of the Voting Rights Act; violation of the National Voter Registration Act; and violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

PLAINTIFFS' CONTENTIONS: Plaintiffs contended Defendants violated San Joaquin County citizens right to vote, protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and their Fourteenth Amendment right to equal protection of the laws and due process. Plaintiffs also contended their rights under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, along with the voting provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act had been violated and infringed upon. In sum, Plaintiffs contended the Defendants' acts of arbitrarily certifying an election during the pandemic left vulnerable voters impaired, disenfranchised, and unable to exercise their fundamental right to vote.

DEFENDANTS' CONTENTIONS: Defendants denied Plaintiffs' contentions and moved to have the case dismissed with prejudice based on the court lacking federal jurisdiction and for failure to state a claim. Defendants contended Plaintiffs' claims that involved the March 3, 2020 Primary Election were moot because Plaintiff Fugazi abandoned the recount that she previously requested before it was completed and then terminated in accordance with state law.

Result

The court dismissed plaintiff's complaint with prejudice ruling that plaintiffs' claim was moot because of the upcoming closeness to the general election and a remedy was not cognizable.