Entries by Madeline Martinez

League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) et al. v. Abbott

Published November 19, 2025 On October 6, 2025, the UCLA Voting Rights Project (VRP), directed by Dr. Matt A. Barreto and Chad W. Dunn, JD, in the Luskin School of Public Affairs, successfully argued in favor of Hispanic and Black voters in League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) et al. v. Abbott, VPR’s legal director, Dunn, and senior staff […]

Portugal et al. v. Franklin County

With UCLA Voting Rights Project assistance, Latino voters have succeeded on their Washington Voting Rights Act claim and Franklin County Commission seats will be elected in single-member districts. The UCLA Voting Rights Project (VRP), representing three individual Latino voters and the League of United Latino America Citizens (LULAC), succeeded in demonstrating that Franklin County, Washington […]

Amicus Brief, Merrill et.al., v. Milligan et.al.

Published July 18, 2022 On July 18, 2022, UCLA Voting Rights Project (VRP) filed an amicus brief on behalf of UCLA Social Scientists with the U.S. Supreme Court in the voting rights case Merrill et. al., v. Milligan et. al. The VRP argued for the Court to keep the Voting Rights Act’s longstanding protections of […]

Pettaway v. Galveston County, Texas

A federal judge found that Galveston County’s 2021 redistricting plan diluted the voting strength of Black and Latino voters, violating Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The UCLA Voting Rights Project (UCLA VRP), along with co-counsels Neil G. Baron and the Campaign Legal Center, representing three Galveston residents, the Honorable Terry Petteway, Honorable Penny Pope and […]

Bureaucratic Bias or Voter-Side Factors? Testing Competing Explanations for Racial Gaps in Vote-By-Mail Ballot Signature Rejections

Authors: Michael Herndon, Kassra A. R. Oskooii, and Michael Rios Introduction While voting eligibility has evolved throughout American history, a consistent pattern remains: White voters have often received preferential treatment from lawmakers and election administrators. During the Jim Crow era, for example, White voters were shielded from voting restrictions through mechanisms like White primaries and […]

California Voter’s Choice Act: Utilizing Bayesian Improved Surname Geocoding (BISG) on the 2025 Special Election Voter File

By the UCLA Voting Rights Project in partnership with the California Secretary of State Office In response to the mid-cycle redistricting proposed in Texas in June 2025, California Governor Gavin Newsom recommended that California redraw its congressional district maps to favor Democrats. As a result, California Proposition 50, officially known as the Election Rigging Response […]

The American Dilemma in Election Administration: How Street Level Bureaucrats Racialize Voting

Author: Michael Alan Herndon Problem: The COVID-19 pandemic has ushered in a new reliance on non-traditional voting methods, as over one third of voters utilized vote-by-mail (VBM) in the 2024 general election. While this sweeping transition has increased convenience for many voters, it has opened a door for another form of voter suppression: ballot rejection […]

California Voter’s Choice Act: Utilizing Bayesian Improved Surname Geocoding (BISG) on the 2021 Recall Election Voter File

By the UCLA Voting Rights Project in partnership with the California Secretary of State Office The 2021 California Gubernatorial Recall Election statewide began in August 2021 and concluded on September 14, 2021. The result⎯California voters chose not to recall Governor Gavin Newsom. This report provides a comprehensive analysis of voter registration and turnout in the […]

Portugal et al. v. Franklin County

With UCLA Voting Rights Project assistance, Latino voters have succeeded on their Washington Voting Rights Act claim and Franklin County Commission seats will be elected in single-member districts. The UCLA Voting Rights Project (VRP), representing three individual Latino voters and the League of United Latino America Citizens (LULAC), succeeded in demonstrating that Franklin County, Washington […]

Understanding the Intersection Between Voter Access and Disability in Voter’s Choice Act Counties for the 2022 Primary and General Elections

In this report, the UCLA Voting Rights Project (UCLA VRP) was tasked with providing an analysis of how voters with disabilities engage in the voting process in Voter’s Choice Act (VCA) counties. As of the writing of this report, no state collects data on voters with disabilities, and there is no way to quantitatively evaluate […]