Virginia Governor and top election officials are being sued by the NAACP and the Advancement Project for failing to allocate resources at polling places for expected record turn out. Local officials are expecting between 80% to 85% of voters to turn out to vote compared to 67% to 71% in the last election.

The polling place resource problem is particularly acute in the cities of Richmond, Norfolk, and Virginia Beach. In particular, election officials in Richmond, Norfolk, and Virginia Beach have adopted resource allocation plans that unconstitutionally and otherwise unlawfully under- or mis-allocate polling place resources, including, specifically, voting machines and poll workers, in a manner that infringes and burdens the rights of the voters in these cities and that disfranchises voters in these locales, including, particularly, African-American voters in Richmond and Virginia Beach. “The Commonwealth is under-resourced for this election this will lead to long lines that will disenfranchise voters who cannot wait, particularly in communities of color,” continued Browne-Dianis. “It boggles the mind why officials would stubbornly refused to prepare for the increased turnout that could potentially result in a meltdown on Election Day.”

In the suit, it states that they are not distributing the voting machines and poll workers fairly.

Advancement Project’s research in Virginia showed:

In many jurisdictions, voting machines, privacy booths, and poll workers have either been mis-allocated or are simply insufficient to accommodate all those who may turn out to vote on November 4, 2008. This will likely result in extremely long lines at the polls and “lost” voters unless these problems are addressed beforehand. In some of the jurisdictions the allocation of polling place resources is likely to have a disproportionate impact on communities of color. In other words, there will be fewer voting machines or poll workers per voter in high minority precincts than in low minority precincts. In some jurisdictions, the location of polling places has a disproportionate impact on certain communities, including communities of color. In essence, voters from these communities have to travel greater distances to even have an opportunity to vote.

Bottomline, the Governor and other election officials’ are basically violating the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States of Constitution, Section Two of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Virginia Constitution.