by Morgan Sweeney
A Virginia court has ruled in favor of Attorney General Jason Miyares against Look Ahead America, who had filed a lawsuit and a motion for an injunction and temporary restraining order against Miyares, alleging interference with the group’s First Amendment rights.
The group, a get-out-the-vote organization, has been active in the weeks leading up to the General Assembly general election and received a cease-and-desist order from the attorney general’s office on Oct. 10 about some materials it had distributed as part of its efforts.
The order claimed the group had circulated materials that violated Virginia criminal law on two counts: Intimidation of voters and communication of false information to a registered voter.
The flier in question said, under the heading “Warning from Virginia Voter Assistance”: “According to government records, one or more residents at this address has failed to vote in recent elections. Failure to vote may result in a loss of: Social Security income, Medicare eligibility, unemployment benefits…the seizure of personal assets, including but not limited to firearms [and] bank accounts…”
The back of the flier tells voters how to cast an absentee ballot or vote in person.
In response to the cease-and-desist order, Look Ahead America filed a motion for a preliminary injunction (a reprieve from the order until a court ruled on its legality) and a temporary restraining order against Miyares (pictured above), saying the order would inflict “irreparable harm” on the organization and other similar organizations working to get out the vote, infringing on their rights to free speech and interfering with their work at the height of its importance – before an election only a few weeks away. Look Ahead also filed a lawsuit to defend those rights.
The attorney general’s office called the information conveyed in the flier ‘patently false.’ Look Ahead claimed that the fliers were informative of “rights that could be lost” depending on election results and weren’t “intimidating or threatening to anyone.” Moreover, the organization argued that those specific laws must be unconstitutional if they violated Virginia law.
The court ruled against LAA on both issues, finding their materials misleading and deeming them an act of coercion. The judge also upheld the constitutionality of Virginia’s laws because it found that, though the laws have First Amendment implications, the prohibition on LAA’s speech, in this case, is offset by Virginia’s compelling interest to protect the rights of its citizens to vote in legitimate and orderly elections.
Look Ahead’s Executive Director Matt Braynard stands firmly behind the group’s materials, committed to the veracity of their claims, despite Wednesday’s ruling.
“It just cannot be illegal to tell voters the truth,” LAA’s Executive Director Matt Braynard told The Center Square. “It boggles my mind that the attorney general thinks they should have the role of calling balls and strikes about what’s legitimate political speech and what isn’t… Everything we said in our communications to voters was 100% true.”
Miyares believes that Virginia achieved a significant victory in court Wednesday, protecting voters against illegitimate interference in the voting process.
“The right to vote freely, without coercion or intimidation, is a core American value. As the son of an immigrant, it’s personal to me… Any group intentionally misleading voters at polling places will be held accountable,” Miyares said in a statement.
Braynard is concerned about the court’s decision’s impact on organizations everywhere like LAA.
“The attorney general’s decision now puts every get-out-the-vote message at risk of having the people who distribute it sent to prison because of this very broad and unlimited interpretation of this Virginia statute,” Braynard said.
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Morgan Sweeney is a staff writer covering Virginia and Maryland for The Center Square. Morgan was an active member of the journalism program as an undergraduate at Hillsdale College and previously freelanced for The Center Square.
Photo “Jason Miyares” by Jason Miyares.
