State 10-Minute Voting Limit Voided
A federal district judge ruled Friday that the 10-minute voting time limit in California was unconstitutional and barred the state from enforcing the law on Tuesday.
“Language minorities would clearly be overburdened with the requirement that they cast a ballot within 10 minutes of entering the voting booth,” U.S. District Judge Robert P. Aguilar said, striking down a 1919 statute imposing a 10-minute limit at polling booths.
Aguilar ordered Secretary of State March Fong Eu to notify registrars of voters in all counties in the state that they cannot enforce the 10-minute limit on Tuesday.
Aguilar granted a temporary restraining order pursuant to a suit filed Thursday by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the Legal Aid Society of Santa Clara County.
Manuel Romero, attorney for MALDEF, argued that the time limit in effect was an English proficiency test that violated provisions of the Voting Rights Act that prohibits any test whose effect is to deny a citizen the right to vote. Aguilar agreed.
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