ASSOCIATED PRESS
A group of Harris County voters with disabilities filed a class action lawsuit against the county’s election administrator, accusing the county of discriminating against them for not providing mail-in ballots that properly accommodate them.
Four voters, each of them either blind or with other disabilities, said the Harris County Clerk’s office, led by Teneshia Hudspeth, only provided paper mail-in ballots to them. Given that each of them was unable either to read or write by themselves, their ballots were no longer private.
“Voting is a fundamental right essential to full and equal participation in American society, and that right necessarily includes the ability to cast a ballot privately and independently, without fear of disclosing our vote to others or having our ballot tampered with,” said Norma Crosby, president of the National Federation of the Blind of Texas and one of the plaintiffs. “Harris County already provides electronic ballots to military and overseas voters and even astronauts in outer space. There is no lawful or practical reason to deny the same access to blind and print-disabled voters here at home. We are merely demanding the secret ballot that other voters already have and are guaranteed by law.”
Hudspeth’s office declined to comment on ongoing or potential litigation, a spokesperson said.
Each of the four individuals suing cited their inability to privately vote as a result of disabilities. Cedric Bryant, one of the plaintiffs, is paralyzed from the chest down and cannot use his hands. Ted Galanos, Louis Maher, and Michael McCulloch are all blind.
Within the lawsuit, each of them said they cannot fill out a paper ballot without assistance, denying them the right to a private ballot, which is laid out in the state’s election code.
Citing the fact that military members, overseas voters, and astronauts with electronic ballots — and the fact that Bexar County was ordered by a court to provide electronic ballots to blind voters in future elections—the lawsuit alleges Disability Rights Texas (DRTx), an advocacy group, brought these concerns to the Harris County clerk.
Disability Rights Texas, then, lists several instances when they spoke with Hudspeth about their concerns without an answer to them.
“All the clients are asking is to have equal access to the fundamental right to vote without having to depend on others for assistance,” said DRTx Supervising Attorney Sashi Nisankarao. “DRTx was in conversations with the county for over a year in an effort to allow the county to voluntarily implement RAVBM for voters with print disabilities, but these conversations ended abruptly during the November 2024 Election.”
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