People with disabilities sue in Wisconsin over lack of electronic absentee ballots
MADISON, Wis. — Voters with disabilities in Wisconsin should be able to cast their votes electronically. Not offering that option for the upcoming Aug. 13 primary and November presidential elections is discriminatory and unconstitutional, a lawsuit filed in the state on Tuesday alleges.
The lawsuit seeks to require electronic absentee voting to 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 significant barriers to participating in absentee voting,” the lawsuit states.
Absentee ballots, including who can return them and where, have been a political flashpoint in the swing state of Wisconsin, where four of the past six presidential elections were decided by less than a percentage point. The Wisconsin Supreme Court will hear arguments next month in a case seeking to overturn an earlier ruling on the ban on absentee ballot drop boxes.
A federal court sided with disability rights activists in 2022, saying the Voting Rights Act applies to Wisconsin voters who need assistance mailing or delivering their absentee ballot because of a disability. The ruling overturned a Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling that only voters can return their ballot in person or mail it in.
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. Election Commission spokesperson Riley Vetterkind declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Voters with disabilities should have the option to vote electronically so that Wisconsin can comply with a variety of state and federal laws regarding housing and equal access, the lawsuit states. Electronic voting will also ensure that people with disabilities are treated the same as other voters, the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit alleges that many people with disabilities are unable to cast ballots without assistance because the majority of voting in Wisconsin is done by paper ballot. They could vote privately if electronic voting were an option, the lawsuit argues.
“This unconstitutional defect in Wisconsin’s absentee voting system is known but remains unexplained,” the lawsuit alleges.
The people who filed the lawsuit are Donald Natzke, of Shorewood, and Michael Christopher, of Madison, both of whom are blind; Stacy Ellingen, of Oshkosh, who has cerebral palsy; and Tyler Engel, of Madison, who has spinal muscular atrophy. All four cannot vote privately and independently, the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit alleges that failure to offer electronic absentee voting for people with disabilities violates the state and federal constitutions, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the federal Rehabilitation Act, which prohibits all organizations receiving federal financial assistance from discriminate on the basis of disability.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people with disabilities make up about a quarter of the U.S. adult population. They have become entangled in fights over ballot access as many Republican-led states have passed restrictive voting laws in recent years, including limits on the assistance a voter can receive and whether anyone else can accept a voter’s mail-in ballot can return.