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Through August 24, federal voting case lawsuits this year have been on pace to exceed the total for every federal midterm election year since at least 2010. Most cases involve voluminous evidence, intense early motion practice, and whiplash deadlines. Candidates, interest groups, and other stakeholders ask their counsel: Where do we file? Can we get an injunction? How has this judge handled similar matters? How long is this going to take? For data-driven insights into FAQs like those in voting rights lawsuits and beyond, civil litigation professionals turn to Lex Machina.
Lex Machina®, the LexisNexis® Legal Analytics® platform, converts raw legal documents from voting-rights cases and millions of other lawsuits into structured, practice-specific data through proprietary technology and AI-assisted attorney review. Legal and risk professionals can analyze powerful empirical data for findings, outcomes, timing, damages, equitable remedies, and appeals, plus experiences metrics for the judges, parties, law firms, and attorneys involved. These insights support case assessment, litigation strategy, budgeting, outside-counsel selection, business development, and risk management.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965, 89 P.L. 110; 79 Stat. 437, is significant because it created nationwide protections and special federal enforcement tools for jurisdictions with persistent histories of racial discrimination in voting. Subsequent amendments extended key provisions and added protections for individuals who are not fluent in the English language. Separate federal statutes later broadened the voting-rights framework, including the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), the Voting Accessibility for the Elderly and Handicapped Act (VAEHA), the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), and the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act (MOVE).
Voting rights lawsuits often extend far beyond the named parties. Resolutions can influence district boundaries, election methods, access to registration and ballots, the availability of voting resources, and the operation of public institutions. Many matters involve voluminous documents, expedited discovery, heavy early motion practice, expert analysis, trials, remedial proceedings, and appeals, creating substantial financial stakes for the entities and counsel involved. For example, the Western District of Counsel entered a total of $8,642,853.11 in attorneys’ fees in Perez et al. v. Perry et al., W.D. Tex. 5:11-cv-00360, in which plaintiffs challenged Texas redistricting plans under the Constitution and the Voting Rights Act.
Lex Machina begins with cases assigned PACER Nature of Suit code 441, Voting. Dedicated subject-matter experts then remove matters that do not entail an alleged violation of an individual’s right to vote in a United States election. The team also adds relevant cases filed under other Nature of Suit codes. This curation helps users distinguish qualifying voting litigation from cases that merely contain election-related terminology.
For every federal voting rights case filed since 2009, Lex Machina provides powerful data and exclusive insights into outcomes and key procedural milestones. Legal professionals can determine how a case resolved, which findings were entered, what procedural mechanism produced the result, how long important stages took, what fees or damages were awarded, which equitable remedies were imposed, and whether the district court outcome survived appeal.
Claimants filed 134 federal voting rights lawsuits between January 1 and August 24, 2026, already essentially matching the 135 cases filed during all of 2022. The 2026 year-to-date figure has also surpassed the full-year totals for the three preceding federal midterm-election years. Plaintiffs filed 99 cases in 2018, 98 cases in 2014, and 98 cases in 2010.
Federal voting rights lawsuits by year. The 2026 figure reflects cases filed from January 1 through August 24.
Fast-moving legal doctrine in this area has created new uncertainty, naturally leading to more lawsuits. On April 29, 2026, the Supreme Court significantly revised the framework for Section 2 redistricting claims. Louisiana v. Callais, 146 S. Ct. 1131 (2026). The Court held that liability requires evidence supporting a strong inference of intentional discrimination, rather than disparate impact alone. It also tightened the standards governing illustrative maps, racial-bloc voting analysis, and the totality-of-circumstances inquiry. Those changes raise new questions about pleadings, evidence, remedies, and pending cases.
Across judgment events in federal voting rights lawsuits filed since 2009, findings of a Voting Rights Act violation occurred most often following trial, with 26 findings, while findings of no violation were most common at judgment on the pleadings, with 78.
Preliminary-injunction outcomes can provide another useful benchmark. Among 341 requests decided on the merits, courts granted 122 and denied 219, producing a 36% grant rate and a 64% denial rate. Five additional preliminary injunctions were granted through consent judgments.
Data points like these from the Lex Machina platform give private practitioners and government law offices a valuable starting point for case strategy, resource allocation, and matter staffing. Legal teams can assess whether comparable disputes tend to resolve at the pleadings stage, require substantial expert and trial investment, or depend heavily on obtaining emergency relief.
These insights are valuable to professionals handling personal injury claims, commercial disputes, labor and employment matters, intellectual property, insurance, consumer protection, antitrust, securities, product liability, class actions, Chapter 11 bankruptcies, and more.
For millions of lawsuits, legal and risk professionals can determine in Lex Machina which parties prevailed, how much in damage awards, what equitable remedies were imposed, how long matters took, how disputes terminated, and whether certain results survived appellate review.
Ready to see how Legal Analytics can support your next case, pitch, or risk assessment? Contact Lex Machina through our website to schedule a personalized demonstration.