Mississippi absentee poll legislation harms voters with disabilities, lawsuit says

JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi’s new restrictions on absentee ballots may disenfranchise voters who’ve disabilities by stopping them from receiving assist from individuals they belief, in accordance with a lawsuit that seeks to dam the restrictions.

The legislation – set to take impact July 1 – units a brief listing of people that can “collect and transmit” an absentee poll. The listing consists of staff of the U.S. Postal Service or different mail carriers, plus any “family member, household member or caregiver” of the individual receiving an absentee poll.

The lawsuit was filed Wednesday on behalf of Disability Rights Mississippi, the League of Women Voters of Mississippi and three residents of the north Mississippi metropolis of Okolona. The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union, Disability Rights Mississippi, Mississippi Center for Justice and Southern Poverty Law Center.

“Every voter in the state of Mississippi has the right to participate in their democracy,” ACLU workers lawyer Ming Cheung mentioned in an announcement. “Voting in Mississippi is extraordinarily difficult, and many voters experiencing disabilities and other challenges must rely on their friends and community members for assistance with absentee voting.”

One of the plaintiffs is William Earl Whitley, a 78-year-old Army veteran whose legs had been amputated and who has relied on the opposite two Okolona plaintiffs, who aren’t his kinfolk, to assist him with the absentee voting course of.

“Mr. Whitley wishes to continue to have them assist him but he does not want to put them at risk of facing criminal penalties,” the lawsuit mentioned.

Republican Gov. Tate Reeves mentioned when he signed the brand new legislation that it’ll ban political operatives from amassing and dealing with massive numbers of ballots. Reeves described the follow as “ballot harvesting,” a pejorative time period for dropping off accomplished ballots for different individuals.

Opponents mentioned the brand new restrictions may damage candidates, marketing campaign staff, nursing dwelling staff or others who make good-faith efforts to assist individuals get hold of and mail absentee ballots.

The federal Voting Rights Act ensures that individuals who require assist in voting due to a incapacity, blindness or incapability to learn or write can obtain help “by a person of the voter’s choice,” the lawsuit mentioned, and the one exception is that the assistance can’t come from “the voter’s employer or agent of that employer or officer or agent of the voter’s union.”

“Voting – and receiving assistance with voting due to disability, blindness, or illiteracy – is a highly personal act,” the lawsuit mentioned. “And under federal law, voters cannot be denied their right to entrust a ballot to a person of their choice.”

Unlike some states that permit widespread use of voting by mail, Mississippi already restricted the explanations individuals might vote absentee. The absentee ballots can be found – by mail or for early, in-person voting – to Mississippi voters who’re 65 or older; any voter with a short lived or everlasting bodily incapacity, or any voter who’s that individual’s caretaker; or any voter who can be away from their dwelling county on election day, together with school college students.

Mississippi has elections this 12 months for governor and different statewide and regional workplaces, legislative seats and county workplaces. Party primaries are Aug. 8, and the overall election is Nov. 7.

Republican-led states have tightened guidelines on voting by mail because the 2020 presidential election, partly due to the false narrative of widespread fraud in that race.

Secretary of State Michael Watson, a Republican, wrote in an opinion column in early May that the absentee poll restrictions are a part of an “election integrity package.”