A federal judge has struck down Indiana’s mandatory absentee voter traveling board as discriminating against voters with disabilities in advance of the May 2022 election.
Blind and low-vision Hoosiers — including Kristin Fleschner of Terre Haute — sued the state of Indiana, alleging the state’s voting system violates the Americans with Disabilities Act and deprives them of their right to vote independently and privately.
In Tuesday’s ruling, U.S. District Judge Jane Magnus- Stinson granted in part, and denied in part, a motion for a preliminary injunction.
“The motion is granted to the extent that defendants are ordered to make the use of a traveling board permissive, rather than mandatory, for voters with print disabilities seeking to vote absentee by mail in the upcoming May 3 primary election,” according to the court’s order. Voters with print disabilities may complete mail-in ballots with the assistance of an individual of their own choosing, with certain limits the judge said. The person providing the assistance cannot be an employer or union officer of the voter, nor can they be an agent of the employer or the union.
Further, the state must notify county election boards that they must accept and count such ballots if they are otherwise valid, the judge wrote.
The plaintiff’s motion requiring defendants to implement Remote Accessible Vote-by-Mail, or RAVBM ,voting option in advance of the May 3 primary was denied. Plaintiffs can file a renewed motion seeking injunctive relief in future elections, Magnus-Stinson ruled.
An RAVBM system gives a voter with a disability an opportunity to download a ballot, allowing them to read it and mark it using their own assistive technology device. At that point, the voter with a disability has to print out their selections and return them to the county elections office.
The plaintiffs are Fleschner of Vigo County, Rita Kersh of Lawrence County and Wanda Tackett of Vanderburgh
County. They are joined by the Indiana Protection and Advocacy Services Commission and American Council of the Blind of Indiana.
Defendants include the Indiana Election Commission, Indiana Secretary of State and Indiana Election Division.
The traveling board rule was the most restrictive in the country for voters with disabilities and had resulted in at least one voter being unable to cast a ballot in the November 2020 presidential election because a traveling board never came to her home to help her vote, according to a news release from Indiana Disability Rights and Disability Rights Advocates.
The ability to vote privately and independently is a fundamental right and an essential component of democracy in the United States, according to the release.
“This case involves the values at the core of the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act: equal treatment, equal access, and independence for individuals with disabilities,” the court order stated. “The traveling board scheme significantly interferes with a blind or print disabled person’s ability to vote privately and independently.”
The defendants must now notify county election boards that they must accept and count mail-in absentee ballots from blind voters.
Magnus-Stinson also stated the court is “gravely concerned” about the issues and “expects defendants to increase their efforts to remedy those problems in advance of future elections.” The court ordered a status conference in about three months. Also, defendants are ordered to gather data in connection with the May 3 primary related to voters with print disabilities who cast absentee ballots.
The plaintiffs filed a federal lawsuit filed in December 2020 asking for relief, and the Indiana Legislature passed a similar law in April 2021.
“Voting by traveling board in 2020 was not only inconvenient, but also I was not able to vote privately and independently. Yesterday’s (Tuesday’s) order bodes very well for our lawsuit and our request to make absentee voting private, independent, and accessible to all people,” Fleschner stated in the release.
She had to make a traveling board appointment to vote in 2020, but when the traveling board arrived, they asked her mother to complete her ballot, defeating the purpose of their visit.
In an interview, Fleschner said the case will continue to go forward after the primary. “We needed an answer as to how disabled people could vote,” she said. “It was important for us to ask for this preliminary injunction so that the secretary of state’s office knows we’re going to continue wanting to vote and participate in our government and it’s not going to go away until we have it fixed and have the ability to submit the vote privately and independently,” Fleschner said.
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