Emily Francis, an assistant professor of government and politics at the University of Southern California, says that the state’s election law is complex, and the state’s Department of Justice is taking action. “In California, election law is a big concern for everyone who values democracy,” she says. “The law can be used to keep people from voting, to disenfranchise people.”

The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials said it was concerned by the actions taken against the three groups. “The Latino community and its elected officials are working to strengthen the democracy in California by improving the integrity of the voting process,” said NACLE spokesman Mike Zucar. “We are also working to enact other reforms to enhance voter access, to increase participation and to protect voters’ rights to cast ballots.”

But the groups’ attorneys have called on the state to allow them to continue their court challenge of California’s laws for their efforts to expand voter and electoral participation.

A recent study by the San Francisco-based Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) found that, to qualify for a ballot, voters must be 17 and have a current high school diploma or a GED. Those laws, which the groups have challenged, affect about 1.4% of registered voters, the study said, compared to 2% for California.

Henderson-Mendoza, of the Voting Rights Project, says that if the state’s new election law can make it harder for more than 2.6 million young Latinos to cast a ballot in November, it should be challenged. “If California is serious about being a place where anyone can vote, then this is a pretty egregious case of suppression of people who should be having a right to vote,” she says.