On March 27, 2017, an inmate and eligible voter serving a sentence for a misdemeanor charge in the Allen County Jail (ACJ) brought this class action in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana. The plaintiff sued the Allen County Sheriff under 42 U.S.C. §1983. The jail provided no absentee ballots to any of the 450–550 eligible voters serving misdemeanor sentences during the 2016 election. According to the plaintiff, the defendant also did not allow inmates to vote in-person at a voting center located only a block from the facility. Represented by private counsel, the plaintiff sought monetary relief and attorneys’ fees because he claimed that the jail violated his and other class members’ fundamental right to vote under the Fourteenth Amendment.

The case was originally assigned to Judge Jon E. DeGuilio. It was reassigned to Chief Judge Theresa L. Springmann on May 1, 2017; to Judge Holly A. Brady on May 1, 2019; Judge William C. Lee on May 10; Chief Judge Springmann on May 13; and Judge Damon R. Leichty on September 4, 2019.

On March 28, 2017, the plaintiff filed a motion for class certification, defining the proposed class as “All individuals held at the Allen County Jail on November 8, 2016 who on that date were US citizens, residents of Indiana, were at least eighteen years of age, were not serving a sentence for a conviction of a felony crime, had not previously voted in the 2016 general election, were provided neither an absentee ballot nor transportation to a voting center, and were registered to vote or had been denied the opportunity to register to vote while held in the Allen County Jail.”

The original plaintiff filed an amended complaint and motion to certify the class in June 2017, adding a second plaintiff, and they filed a second amended complaint in August 2017. The second amended complaint added facts regarding the number of jail inmates affected and the lack of communication between the jail and the Allen County Election Board.

On November 13, 2017, the court denied the class certification motion, with leave to refile, because the plaintiffs had failed to show that many of those in the class were registered to vote on November 8, 2016. In the court’s view the plaintiffs had shown that as many as 500-600 inmates may have been injured, but did not support any particular number with sufficient facts. Additionally, the court dismissed the original named plaintiff because he lacked standing, having failed to request an absentee ballot in time to be eligible to vote.

On March 7, 2018, the remaining plaintiff filed a second motion to certify the class; the court granted that motion on May 17. This time, the plaintiff had supported his claim with a list of inmates who were eligible to vote and incarcerated in the Allen County jail on November 8, 2016. The court found that the class was sufficiently numerous and identifiable and that there were common questions among the class members.

Several months later, on July 23, 2018, the Sheriff moved for partial summary judgment. Following the motion for partial summary judgment, the parties entered mediation. On March 1, 2019, the magistrate judge overseeing mediation notified the court that a second mediation would be scheduled upon the court’s resolution of the defendant’s pending motion for summary judgment.

On April 3, 2019, the court granted summary judgment as to prisoners who were incarcerated at the jail on or before October 31, 2016. The claims of class members incarcerated at the jail after that date remained before the court.

As of July 16, 2020, a 5-day trial is set to begin on September 14, 2020.

Jake Parker - 05/25/2018
Keagan Potts - 03/13/2019


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