<x-flowed>A lawyer working with the Louisiana Governor's office has asked me what remedy the state may have against FEMA for their refusal to release the names and new temporary addresses of evacuees from Hurricane Katrina. In particular, the Governor wants to make sure they receive absentee ballots for the February elections.  FEMA has cited privacy concerns to justify their refusal to release the names and addresses.  For some reason, it also appears that FEMA is unwilling to mail or forward the absentee ballot request forms or ballots itself (thereby not having to release the names) and the post office does not have forwarding addresses for most evacuees, so the state cannot simply mail the forms to the old addresses and have them forwarded.  Assume that a FOIA request will prove unsuccessful and that individual evacuees on their own initiative could request and receive absentee ballots.  Of course, many of the evacuees are probably never going to return to New Orleans, many are now bona fide residents of other states, and many would not vote absentee if given the chance.

However, the question is:

Is there a viable Section 2 VRA claim lurking here (take it as a given that a disproportionate share of the desired addresses are of African Americans)?

Are there other constitutional or federal statutory claims that the state could make to compel the release of such a list?

Nate