Electronic at-Home Absentee Voting for Blind Voters V. 1

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1 Electronic at-Home Absentee Voting for Blind Voters 1 (2021)

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CASE STUDIES IN EMERGENCY ELECTION LITIGATION

Electronic At-Home Absentee Voting
for Blind Voters
Powell v. Benson (Gershwin A. Drain,
E.D. Mich. 2:20-cv-11023), Drenth v. Boockvar
(Jennifer P. Wilson, M.D. Pa. 1:20-cv-829), Hernandez
v. New York State Board of Elections (Lewis J. Liman,
S.D.N. Y. 1:20-cv-4003), and Merrill v. Dunlap
(John A. Woodcock, Jr., D. Me. 1:20-cv-248)
In light of the greater need for absentee voting in 2020 because of
the COVID-19 global infectious pandemic, lawsuits in four states
resulted in electronic at-home absentee voting for blind voters that
protected the secrecy of their ballots.
Subject: Absentee and early voting. Topics: COVID-19; absentee
ballots; Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act
(UOCAVA); intervention; class action; primary election.
In light of the greater need for absentee voting in 2020 because of the
COVID-19 global infectious pandemic, blind voters and state affiliates of the
National Federation of the Blind filed federal actions in Michigan, Pennsyl-
vania, and New York seeking at-home electronic voting that would allow
blind voters to vote without the assistance of others in order to protect the
secrecy of their ballots.1 The lawsuits resulted in consent decrees in Michigan
and New York. In Pennsylvania, the judge granted the plaintiffs a remedy
proposed by the defendants.
Michigan
Two blind voters filed a federal class-action complaint in the Eastern District
of Michigan on Saturday, April 25, 2020, claiming that mail-in absentee bal-
lots available only in paper form deprived them of an opportunity to vote in
private, because blind voters needed the assistance of others to complete bal-
lots of that type.2
For example, Maryland has developed an online ballot marking tool
that allows voters to view and mark their absentee ballots on their comput-
ers. Maryland created the tool so that it would work with screen access
software and has extensively tested the tool's usability for individuals with a
variety of disabilities.3

1. See Christina A. Cassidy, Blind Fear Privacy Loss with Shift to Mail Voting, S. Fla. Sun-
Sentinel, June 17, 2020, at A12.
2. Complaint, Powell v. Benson, No. 2:20-cv-11023 (E.D. Mich. Apr. 25, 2020), D.E. 1
[hereinafter Powell Complaint]; see Taylor DesOrmeau, Blind Voters Sue Michigan as Tues-
day Nears, Absentee Ballots Are Not Available, Jackson Citizen Patriot, Apr. 30, 2020, at Al.
3. Powell Complaint, supra note 2, at 6.
On February 10, 2020, District of Maryland Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher denied the Na-
tional Federation of the Blind a preliminary injunction that would require Maryland election
officials to use for in-person voting by most voters electronic ballot marking devices that

Federal Judicial Center 2/4/2021

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