CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) RESOURCE CENTER Read More
Add To Favorites

Texans with disabilities sue to challenge mail-in ballot process

Austin American-Statesman - 7/29/2020

Disability rights groups have filed a federal lawsuit against the Texas secretary of state, contending that the vote-by-mail process is inaccessible to people with impairments to vision and writing.

People with these disabilities must either seek help to vote by mail or "risk their health during this pandemic by traveling to a polling place," the suit argues. The solution would be to offer online voting options, which are already available to people in the military and people overseas, they said.

Texas Secretary of State Ruth Hughs disagrees, saying it's unfeasible to implement online voting this close to the general election, according to an attorney who wrote a letter on her behalf earlier this month.

The National Federation of the Blind of Texas and the Coalition of Texans With Disabilities, along with three Texas men with disabilities -- an Austin man who is blind, a Beaumont man who also is blind, and an Arlington man with cerebral palsy -- are suing Hughs.

All three men would prefer to vote online for the November election, the suit says.

Voters who receive mail-in paper ballots from Texas are given written instructions that if they "need help reading, marking, or mailing the actual ballot, ask a trusted relative or friend for help." The people who are suing the secretary of state contend this violates their right to vote privately and independently.

Norma Crosby, National Federation of the Blind of Texas president, said online voting would allow people who are blind or visually impaired to use screen reader technology, which converts text into speech. Crosby, who is blind, says she frequently uses screen reader technology to navigate the internet.

Crosby said, under normal circumstances, she typically votes in person in Brazoria County, outside Houston. She uses headphones with the ballot machine, and her options and answers are read to her through text-to-voice technology.

However, Crosby is immunocompromised and doesn't feel comfortable voting in person in November during the pandemic, she said.

"I feel as though the state of Texas is forcing me to deal with a problem that I wouldn't have to deal with if they could just make the ballot accessible," she said.

Electronic ballots delivered by email for military personnel and overseas voters are already available "and could be made accessible as an immediate temporary solution to the problem," the suit says. "Numerous low-cost and no-cost accessible electronic ballot delivery systems are available and used by many other jurisdictions as permanent solutions. Despite the available solutions, the Secretary of State of Texas has refused to allow counties to implement them."

The National Federation of the Blind of Texas and the Coalition of Texans With Disabilities communicated with the secretary of state's office last year and this year about the need to make mail-in ballots accessible to people with disabilities.

An attorney with the Texas attorney general's office responded in a letter on Hughs' behalf, according to exhibits filed with the lawsuit.

"The secretary values the protections provided to individuals with disabilities in the voting process," the letter says. "The Texas Election Code makes numerous accommodations for voters with disabilities to cast ballots in Texas's elections both in person and by mail. ... Secretary Hughs disagrees that the accommodations identified in your letter are required by federal law, allowed for under Texas law, or even feasible to implement in 254 counties across Texas -- particularly this close to the 2020 general election.

"For example, allowing voters to mark their ballots online raises concerns about the security of the transmittal, the integrity of the election, and the privacy of the voters. Your requests seek changes that are the province of the Texas Legislature."

Crosby disagrees that she should have to wait for lawmakers to take up the issue.

"This is a very important election, no matter which way you're going to vote," Crosby said. "To have to put our health on the line in order to take advantage of our constitutional right to vote is a huge problem. It's not something I think we should have to wait for."

___

(c)2020 Austin American-Statesman, Texas

Visit Austin American-Statesman, Texas at www.statesman.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Nationwide News