[NFBMI-Talk] Accessible Absentee Ballots -- Ohio Federal Court Ruling

[Fred Wurtzel]

Hello Fellow Federationists,

 

Just so you know, as of November of 2017 federal judges affirmed that it is
the law that absentee ballots must be accessible to blind voters in
Michigan.  The NFB and others took the State of Ohio to court to assure that
blind folks have the same right to vote as all other citizens.  Read the
article below to familiarize yourself with this important issue.  

 

2 years after this ruling, Michigan still, despite our efforts to get the
Secretary of state to act,  does not have an accessible absentee ballot.  We
are electing a president in November.  We are choosing candidates for most
all offices in government in August.  There are other elections coming up
next month in many counties.  Blind people need our constitutional right to
vote independently and privately.

 

We have talked about accessible absentee voting and access to the ballot by
blind persons.  We have talked about a federal Circuit court case that the
NFB and others won in Ohio.  The 3 judge panel voted 3 to zero to order that
absentee ballots must be accessible to blind voters.  This federal court
ruling covers Michigan the same as it does Ohio.  Corvid19 raises the stakes
on this issue.  I, for one, do not wish to experience what voters in
Wisconsin had to experience where there were lines and crowds waiting to
vote, exposing voters to infection by the potentially fatal Corvid 19 with
no vaccine or treatment available.

 

In addition to making our absentee ballots accessible, we will still need to
work on getting the Michigan Secretary of State to fix the Hart and Dominion
machines to make them accessible and usable by blind persons.

 

President Powell is working hard to make sure blind Michigan voters have
access to absentee ballots.  Read the article below.  The court case
citation is near the end.  So, if you need to tell someone about the case,
you can give them the legal citation to look up.

 

Warmest Regards,

 

Fred

 

NOVEMBER 13, 2017 / 2:15 PM / 2 YEARS AGO

 

U.S. appeals court sides with blind voters in Ohio

Jonathan Stempel

 

3 MIN READ

 

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(Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Monday revived a lawsuit claiming
that Ohio's paper-ballot absentee voter system discriminates against blind
people

by preventing them from voting anonymously and forcing them to get help from
people with sight. 

 

By a 3-0 vote, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati said a
lower court judge acted prematurely in dismissing the lawsuit by three blind

voters and the National Federation of the Blind. 

 

The plaintiffs wanted Ohio to provide blind voters with online absentee
ballots and adopt marking tools used in other U.S. states, including
Maryland and

Oregon. 

 

They said its requirement that blind voters get aid from sighted people
violated the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. 

 

Ohio said the proposed changes would require a "fundamental alteration" to
its voting program and circumvent certification requirements for voting
equipment

that were intended to preserve the integrity of elections. 

 

But the appeals court panel, whose members were appointed by Republican
presidents, said Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted had the burden of
proving a

fundamental alteration, and simply accepting his determination that one
existed was not enough. 

 

"Only if the substantive interests undergirding the certification rules
cannot be met by the ballot marking tools and electronic ballots, as shown
by evidence

presented by the parties, can the district court properly make a
determination," Circuit Judge Richard Griffin wrote. 

 

Monday's decision returned the case to U.S. District Judge George Smith in
Columbus, Ohio for further proceedings. 

 

"The ruling today was largely procedural, and we shall proceed accordingly,"
said Dan Tierney, a spokesman for Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, who
represented

Husted. 

 

Jessica Weber, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, welcomed the decision. 

 

"We know that this technology is out there," she said in an interview. "The
message from today's decision is that the existence of an unmet state
requirement

regarding technology isn't enough to justify denying blind voters the right
to vote by absentee ballot, independently and privately." 

 

The case is Hindel et al v Husted, 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No.
17-3207. 

 

Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; editing by Richard Chang and
Cynthia Osterman

 

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The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.