Pennsylvania Voters Alliance v. Centre County — M.D. Pa., No. 4:20-cv-01761

Case summary

The Pennsylvania Voters Alliance and fourteen individual registered voters sued Centre County, Delaware County and the City of Philadelphia in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, No. 4:20-cv-01761-MWB, to enjoin them from receiving election grants from the Center for Tech and Civic Life, and later added the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as a defendant. The complaint argued that the grants violate the Elections Clause and the Equal Protection Clause and are preempted by the Constitution, the Help America Vote Act and the National Voter Registration Act. On October 21, 2020 the court dismissed the amended complaint without prejudice for lack of Article III standing, holding the alleged injuries were generalized grievances lacking particularity and imminence. The Third Circuit summarily dismissed the appeal on November 23, 2020.

Case at a glance

What did the court decide?

That it could not reach the merits because the plaintiffs lacked standing. The opinion states that all three of the alleged injuries are generalized grievances, insufficiently particularized, and that they also lack imminence, and dismisses the action on that basis without prejudice.

What grants were at issue?

Grants from the Center for Tech and Civic Life, a non-party the opinion describes as a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization formed in 2012 that had designated $250,000,000 for election offices across the country. The opinion records that Philadelphia received $10,012,000, Delaware County $2,200,000 and Centre County $863,838, and lists permitted uses including maintaining in-person polling on election day, obtaining personal protective equipment, processing mail-in and absentee ballots, satellite election offices and secure drop-boxes.

What happened on appeal?

The Third Circuit, on the clerk's submission for summary action under its Local Appellate Rule 27.4 and I.O.P. 10.6, dismissed the appeal summarily on November 23, 2020 "for lack of standing, as there is no injury-in-fact."