From NFB: For Complete Post, Click Here…
TODAY the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program (ADAP), and Brown Goldstein & Levy, on behalf of the National Federation of the Blind of Alabama (NFB-AL) and individual Alabamians, filed litigation against the Alabama Secretary of State for denying voters who are blind or have print disabilities access to the state’s absentee ballot program in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Rehabilitation Act (RA).
To remedy these violations, the Secretary of State must offer accessible electronic ballots that these voters can read and mark on their own computers or smart devices using their own assistive technology. Currently, Alabama relies exclusively on paper ballots for absentee voting.
“The Secretary of State is denying blind voters and voters with print disabilities the right to vote privately and independently by absentee ballot,” said Liza Weisberg, voting rights staff attorney with SPLC. “The remedy is clear: the Secretary of State must implement an accessible electronic absentee voting program, so that the blind voters and voters with print disabilities can enjoy an equal opportunity to vote absentee and have an equal say in how their communities are governed.”
