CASE STUDIES IN EMERGENCY ELECTION LITIGATION

Federal Judicial Center 8/23/2023 1

A County’s Improper Refusal to Accept Online 

Voter Registrations from the State’s Website 

Mullins v. Cole 

(Robert C. Chambers, S.D. W. Va. 3:16-cv-9918) 

A district judge determined that a county clerk’s refusal to accept 

online voter registrations from the state’s website violated equal protection. The judge issued a preliminary injunction five days after the 

complaint was filed. 

Subject: Registration procedures. Topics: Registration 

procedures; equal protection; class action; student registration; 

attorney fees. 

According to a federal class-action complaint filed on Thursday, October 20, 

2016, in the Southern District of West Virginia’s Huntington courthouse, 

Plaintiff . . . recently moved to Cabell County[, West Virginia,] to attend 

Marshall University and used the Secretary of State’s website to update her 

voter registration information prior to the October 18[, 2016,] deadline, but 

that information was not and will not be processed by Defendant [Clerk of 

Cabell County] without action from this Court.1

“Of the fifty-five counties in West Virginia, all but Cabell County allow residents to register using the online system.”2

 With her complaint, the plaintiff 

filed a motion for a temporary restraining order.3

On Friday, Judge Robert C. Chambers ordered hand service on the defendant clerk by 5:00 p.m. that day, ordered a response to the motion filed by noon 

on Monday, and set the case for hearing Tuesday morning.4 “Although [the 

plaintiff] filed her motion as a request for a temporary restraining order, the 

Court held a full adversary hearing on the motion. . . . [, converting] the action 

into one for a preliminary injunction at the hearing.”5

At the hearing, Judge Chambers granted the plaintiff a preliminary injunction, with an opinion to follow.6

 The clerk “agreed to treat all otherwise qualified individuals who timely used the West Virginia Secretary of State’s online 

1. Complaint at 6, Mullins v. Cole, No. 3:16-cv-9918 (S.D. W. Va. Oct. 20, 2016), D.E. 1; 

see Mullins v. Cole, 218 F. Supp. 3d 488, 489 (S.D. W. Va. 2016); see also Kate White, ACLU 

Files Suit Over Cabell Voter Registration, Charleston Gazette-Mail, Oct. 21, 2016, at 1C. 

2. Mullins, 218 F. Supp. 3d at 490. 

3. Temporary-Restraining-Order Motion, Mullins, No. 3:16-cv-9918 (S.D. W. Va. Oct. 20, 

2016), D.E. 3; Mullins, 218 F. Supp. 3d at 489. 

4. Order, Mullins, No. 3:16-cv-9918 (S.D. W. Va. Oct. 21, 2016), D.E. 7; Mullins, 218 F. 

Supp. 3d at 489; see Minutes, Mullins, No. 3:16-cv-9918 (S.D. W. Va. Oct. 25, 2016), D.E. 16; 

see also Judge Sets Hearing for Case Against Cabell Clerk, Charleston Gazette-Mail, Oct. 22, 

2016, at 8A; Kate White, Clerk’s Lawyer Replies to Voter Suit, Charleston Gazette-Mail, Oct. 

25, 2016, at 1C. 

5. Mullins, 218 F. Supp. 3d at 491. 

6. Preliminary Injunction, Mullins, No. 3:16-cv-9918 (S.D. W. Va. Oct. 25, 2016), D.E. 17; 

Mullins, 218 F. Supp. 3d at 489–90; see Cabell Clerk Ordered to Honor Online Voter Registrations, Charleston Gazette-Mail, Oct. 26, 2016, at 1C. 
A County’s Improper Refusal to Accept Online Voter Registrations from the State’s Website 

2 Federal Judicial Center 8/23/2023 

voter registration system to register to vote in Cabell County as members of 

the class.”7

Judge Chambers issued his opinion on November 21.8 “The constitution 

prohibits people from being classified in such a way that it unnecessarily 

abridges the right to vote.”9 He found the county clerk’s preference for paper 

applications over electronic ones insufficient to justify disparate treatment.10

An award of attorney fees and costs was resolved by settlement.11

7. Preliminary Injunction, supra note 6, at 1. 

8. Mullins, 218 F. Supp. 3d 488. 

9. Id. at 492. 

10. Id. at 493–95. 

11. Order, Mullins, No. 3:16-cv-9918 (S.D. W. Va. Mar. 15, 2017), D.E. 30.