Lawsuit Seeks to Require Electronic Absentee Voting for People with Disabilities

Thursday, April 18th, 2024 -- 1:01 PM

(AP) Wisconsin voters with disabilities should be able to cast their ballots electronically and failure to provide that option for the upcoming Aug. 13 primary and November presidential election is discriminatory and unconstitutional, a lawsuit filed Tuesday in the battleground state alleges.

The lawsuit seeks to require that electronic absentee voting be an option for people with disabilities, just as it is for military and overseas voters. Under current Wisconsin law, people with disabilities are “treated unequally and face real and considerable hurdles to participating in absentee voting,” the lawsuit argues.

Absentee ballots, including who can return them and where, have been a political flashpoint in swing state Wisconsin, where four of the past six presidential elections have been decided by less than a percentage point. The Wisconsin Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments next month in a case seeking to overturn a previous ruling banning absentee ballot drop boxes.

A federal court sided with disability rights activists in 2022 and said the Voting Rights Act applies to Wisconsin voters who require assistance with mailing or delivering their absentee ballot because of a disability.

The ruling overturned a Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling that said only the voter can return their ballot in person or place it in the mail. The new case was filed against the Wisconsin Elections Commission in Dane County Circuit Court by four voters, Disability Rights Wisconsin and the League of Women Voters.

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