Western U.S. District Judge James Peterson signalled he would rule in favor of allowing voters with disabilities to obtain assistance in casting absentee ballots.
Peterson is presiding over a lawsuit that seeks to force the Wisconsin Elections Commission to issue guidance to clerks to allow disabled voters assistance in voting. He said provisions in the federal Voting Rights Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act require election officials to accommodate voters with disabilities. He set a Sept. 2 deadline to rule on the issue.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court last month in a case that made absentee ballot drop boxes illegal ruled 4-3 that voters must return their absentee ballots themselves to clerks or place them in the mail.
WEC Administrator Meagan Wolfe in a press event had said voters are required to return their own ballots, adding they should look to their local clerks for guidance.
Peterson Wednesday said there is a Wisconsin statute on elections that “is kind of a safety valve that allows Wisconsin law to be accommodated to whatever the requirements of federal law are.”
“And so in evaluating whether an accommodation is a reasonable one, you’ve got to look to the Voting Rights Act, and if the Voting Rights Act would require it, that is a critical factor, or maybe decisive, that that’s a reasonable accommodation,” he said.
Peterson said his ruling will clear the air of tension between the Supreme Court ruling and provisions in the ADA and VRA. He added although plaintiffs and defendants in this case are “in substantial agreement about certain aspects of the relief, I do think that there is an amount of confusion that is not the court’s doing.
“So I’m not changing the rules by granting this relief; I would not be changing the rules at the last minute,” he said. “I would be alleviating the confusion that’s sort of on the ground at the moment.”
The U.S. Department of Justice in a statement of interest filed Friday argued disabled voters are guaranteed the right to ballot return assistance under the Voting Rights Act and Americans for Disabilities Act.
The agency argued the Americans with Disabilities Act requires disabled voters have equal opportunity to vote absentee and, “be provided reasonable modifications when necessary to avoid discrimination.”
Peterson also today said he wants attorneys representing WEC and the plaintiffs to say by Monday if their clients are OK with summary judgement over preliminary relief because he says he wants to resolve the issue for good. He said he also wants to make sure the issue is resolved ahead of the Sept. 22 deadline for clerks to send absentee ballots to voters.
