A federal judge ruled on Wednesday that blind Ohio residents are being denied access to the state’s absentee voting system, but stopped short of requiring the state to fix the problem before November.
Any Ohio resident can choose to vote through an absentee ballot, for any reason. However, the state only allows residents to do this through paper ballots, which must be filled out by hand. Under the current system, if a blind resident wishes to vote absentee they must rely on someone else to read the ballot and mark their choices for them.
“They have to sacrifice the privacy and independence of their vote,” Kristen Henry, staff attorney for Disability Rights Ohio, said when the suit was filed in December.
The suit was filed by Disability Rights Ohio on behalf the National Federation of the Blind and Shelbi Hindel, Barbara Pierce, and Marianne Denning — all blind, registered Ohio voters. It alleges that this is in violation of equal opportunity under the Americans with Disabilities Act, as voters with disabilities are denied full and equal access to the same absentee voting opportunities that non-disabled voters enjoy. The suit also notes that affordable technological solutions are available and already in use by other states.
They have to sacrifice the privacy and independence of their vote.
Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted argued that polling stations themselves are fully equipped with accessibility features, and that people can request a poll worker to help them vote.
U.S. District Judge George C. Smith, however, ruled that blind Ohioans are being denied “meaningful access” to the same rights afforded to non-disabled voters, concluding:
“The inability of disabled voters to vote absentee in a private and independent manner evidences that these voters do not have the same meaningful access to mail-in absentee voting that non-disabled voters enjoy.”
The decision is a mixed victory for Disability Rights Ohio’s case. While the district court found that Secretary of State Husted is violating the rights of blind voters, Smith also said that there isn’t enough time before November for the state to implement the solution that Disability Rights Ohio proposed in their complaint — new technology that would allow blind voters to cast absentee ballots privately and independently.
The lawsuit noted that such technologies were already in use by Maryland, where a Federal court mandated that voters with disabilities have access to independent absentee voting in 2014. That year, more than 1,700 Maryland voters with disabilities used the tool to successfully vote using their computers. Maryland has offered other states the system for free. Private, accessible voting is also possible under the open source voting technology used by Oregon, Wisconsin, and New Hampshire.
The court’s decision on Wednesday — ahead of a trial — came as somewhat of a surprise. Henry said in a statement to ThinkProgress that Judge Smith’s decision regarding their proposed remote ballot marking tools was based on “limited information.”
“The plaintiffs believe that the court should not have ruled on this issue before hearing evidence from the plaintiffs’ expert and other witnesses, who were prepared to explain how these tools could be implemented with confidence in this election,” Henry said, adding that they are planning an appeal.
The judge urged Disability Rights Ohio and Husted to continue trying to find a solution — though possibly only for elections after November.
Across the country, people with disabilities face barriers to voting. Despite laws mandating accessibility, in every election, stories emerge of polling places that aren’t wheelchair accessible or don’t have voting machines equipped for people who are visually impaired. And people with disabilities are disproportionately affected by voter ID laws — which have now been enacted in over 30 states, including Ohio.
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