Hospitalized Voter Research Project Instructions

Project Overview:

About VoteRiders

VoteRiders is the country’s leading nonpartisan organization focused on the critical issue of voter ID. Our mission is to eliminate ID barriers to the ballot box so every eligible voter can cast a ballot that counts. We inform communities about ID laws, equip partner organizations to expand voting access, advocate for pro-voter policies, and provide free one-on-one help to individuals to secure an accepted form of ID to vote. 

About L4GG

Lawyers for Good Government is a community of 125,000 lawyers, law students, and activists fighting to ensure equal rights, equal opportunities and equal justice under the law. We coordinate large scale pro bono programs and engage in advocacy and policy work, seeking not only to establish and enforce equality under the law, but to also create the social and economic conditions that lead to true equity.

About the Project

In order to support its helpline that answers questions from voters, VoteRiders needs to update resources on how voters (or their family members) who are hospitalized near or on Election Day can still cast a ballot to vote in all 50 states and DC. This project will build on and update work that was previously done for the 2024 election. 

Instructions for Participating Attorneys:

• Attend the Training

  • The training will be held on Wednesday, September 9 at 1-2 pm ET / 10-11 pm PT on Zoom and will be recorded for anyone who cannot attend. 

  • The recording can be accessed here.

• Review the Current Information for Your Assigned State

  • Current information for all states is available here.

• Review the Research Questions

  • Before accessing the form, we recommend that you review the research questions at the bottom of this document.

• Conduct Your Research

  • We have provided research tools for you to use below.

  • When using secondary sources, please make sure to confirm the current law with primary sources.

• Compile Your Research

  • We recommend that during the legal research process, you gather your findings in a Word or Google document prior to completing the online form.

• Citations

  • Whenever discussing any laws, regulations, or cases in your responses, please provide both the Bluebook citation and link to the citation in Justia. We ask that any citations to statute are linked to Justia - if you find the citation or case in Westlaw or Lexis, please then search for it in Justia to provide a publicly available link. This allows us to easily add the research to public facing materials for our community.

• Submit Your Research

  • Once you have completed your research, please copy and paste your findings into the corresponding fields using this online form. 

  • Please check your answers for accuracy before pressing “Submit.”

  • Note: L4GG strongly prefers that a single attorney be responsible for filling out one form per state.

  • Please submit the completed form online by Friday, October 9.

Questions? Email ceridwen@voteriders.org.

Tools:

As you conduct your research, we recommend you consult the following resources:

Primary Sources

• Your Westlaw or Lexis account. We request that you do all research in your Westlaw or Lexis Account.  These are the most accurate and up-to-date, and importantly include references to the relevant case law and often regulations.

• Justia. This is a publicly available resource for the state codes of each jurisdiction. However, it does not include Westlaw or Lexis’s keycite or red flags to show if there is superseding case law. 

• State agency websites

  • State election agency (usually Secretary of State's office, but varies by state)

Secondary Source

• Patient Voting

RESEARCH QUESTIONS:

(PLEASE REMEMBER TO INCLUDE CITATIONS AND LINKS WHEN AVAILABLE FOR EACH OF YOUR ANSWERS)

For your assigned state, please answer the following questions:

Are the answers to the questions in the Excel document fully up-to-date and accurate for your assigned states? (Yes/No)

• (If No) Please list which question(s) need to be updated and your proposed updates.

• (If No) Please provide the citations and public links to the law to support your proposed updates.

• (If No) If you have any documents that support your proposed updates, including records of email communications with state agencies, please attach the documents here.

Once you have completed your research, please submit your responses (with citations/links) using this online form. Thank you for contributing to this important project.