CASE STUDIES IN EMERGENCY ELECTION LITIGATION

Federal Judicial Center 3/8/2023 1

No Right to Have Provisional Ballots Counted 

Without Evidence That Voter-Registration 

Applications Were Received 

Jackson v. Madison County Board of Registrars 

(Madeline Hughes Haikala, N.D. Ala. 5:18-cv-1855) 

Four voters sought an injunction requiring the counting of their provisional ballots, alleging that they registered to vote on time. On evidence that their voter registration applications were never received, 

the judge determined that they were not entitled to immediate injunctive relief. 

Subject: Provisional ballots. Topics: Provisional ballots; 

registration procedures; student registration; case assignment. 

Four voters filed a federal complaint in the Northern District of Alabama on 

Friday, November 9, 2018, three days after a general election, seeking an injunction requiring election officials to count their provisional ballots, alleging 

that although they registered to vote on time, their registration applications 

were not processed before the election.1

 With their complaint, the plaintiffs 

filed a motion for a temporary restraining order.2

On the day that the case was filed, the court assigned the case to a magistrate judge3

 and then reassigned the case to Judge Madeline Hughes Haikala.4

Judge Haikala issued a temporary restraining order against the final certification of provisional ballots until she could hear from the parties.5

 Also on the 

day that the complaint was filed, she held a telephone conference with the parties6

 and set the case for hearing on the following Tuesday.7

At the November 13 hearing, the plaintiffs’ attorney informed the court, 

“Since election day, plaintiffs have checked the status of their provisional ballots and discovered that their ballots have been rejected, meaning they will not 

be counted.”8 In closing, defense counsel argued that “while plaintiffs have put 

forth evidence that they completed the forms, they do not know that those 

forms got turned in.”9 Judge Haikala concluded that the case essentially presented a chain-of-custody issue: “So based on all of the evidence that the Court 

1. Complaint, Jackson v. Madison Cty. Bd. of Registrars, No. 5:18-cv-1855 (N.D. Ala. Nov. 

9, 2018), D.E. 1. 

2. Temporary-Restraining-Order Motion, id. (Nov. 9, 2018), D.E. 4. 

3. Assignment Notice, id. (Nov. 9, 2018), D.E. 2. 

4. Reassignment Notice, id. (Nov. 9, 2018), D.E. 8. 

5. Docket Sheet, id. (Nov. 9, 2018) (D.E. 13). 

6. Id. (minutes, Nov. 9, 2018). 

7. Id. (D.E. 15). 

8. Transcript at 5, id. (Nov. 13, 2018, filed Nov. 21, 2018), D.E. 24. 

9. Id. at 103. 
No Right to Have Provisional Ballots Counted 

Without Evidence That Voter-Registration Applications Were Received 

2 Federal Judicial Center 3/8/2023 

has received, the Court cannot say at this point that there is a substantial likelihood of success on the merits.”10

Judge Haikala granted a voluntary dismissal on January 28, 2019.11

10. Id. at 109–10; see Ivana Hrynkiw, Four A&M Students’ Votes Won’t Count, Huntsville 

Times, Nov. 14, 2018, at A3. 

11. Order, Jackson, No. 5:18-cv-1855 (N.D. Ala. Jan. 28, 2019), D.E. 31.