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MayReasonRule

(1,804 posts)
Thu Oct 17, 2024, 08:33 AM Oct 17

This ruling from Ohio's highest court is 'an affront' to disabled voters

Source: MSNBC

It makes no sense to prevent people who may help disabled people complete their ballots from using drop boxed to submit those ballots.

The Ohio Supreme Court, splitting 4-3 along partisan lines, sided Tuesday with the state’s Republican secretary of state, Frank LaRose, who issued a rule in August that said voting drop boxes can be used only by people who deliver their own ballots. Voting rights advocates say LaRose’s rule violates a provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which says that any voter who “requires assistance to vote by reason of blindness, disability or inability to read or write may be given assistance by a person of the voter’s choice.”

Many disabled voters are immunocompromised and cannot leave their home. Others have difficulty writing their own ballots because they lack limbs or because they are blind. It makes no sense to prevent people who may help them complete their ballots from using drop boxed to submit those ballots.


Read more: https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/ohio-supreme-court-drop-box-disabled-voters-rcna175701

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mopinko

(71,801 posts)
1. we rly dont talk about this shit enough.
Thu Oct 17, 2024, 08:49 AM
Oct 17

it ought to b news that 1 party has passed hundreds of laws/rules to nibble away at the right to vote.
and that they have been uniformly struck down, not by doj, but by 1 man (and his firm), marc elias.
they knew that when they passed them, but hoped enough of them wd stick to sway the election. and if they had, they might.

slightlv

(4,325 posts)
6. You're right, of course...
Thu Oct 17, 2024, 09:31 AM
Oct 17

But SCOTUS was the one who got the ball rolling with this. It's past time to start screaming about them!

Bluejeans

(89 posts)
3. Probably violates the Act for Disabled Americans (ADA), too
Thu Oct 17, 2024, 09:01 AM
Oct 17
The Ohio Supreme Court decision probably violates the ADA, too:

From Title 42-THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE
CHAPTER 126-EQUAL OPPORTUNITY FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES
SUBCHAPTER II-PUBLIC SERVICES

Part A-Prohibition Against Discrimination and Other Generally Applicable Provisions

§12132. Discrimination
Subject to the provisions of this subchapter, no qualified individual with a disability shall, by reason of such disability, be excluded from participation in or be denied the benefits of the services, programs, or activities of a public entity, or be subjected to discrimination by any such entity.


( Pub. L. 101–336, title II, §202, July 26, 1990, 104 Stat. 337 .)

https://uscode.house.gov/browse/prelim@title42/chapter126/subchapter2/partA&edition=prelim

groundloop

(12,262 posts)
4. Their nominee stood on a stage and mocked someone with a disability......
Thu Oct 17, 2024, 09:02 AM
Oct 17

So I think we know what the GQP thinks of people with disabilities.

angrychair

(9,734 posts)
5. This is truly horrible
Thu Oct 17, 2024, 09:09 AM
Oct 17

These people, Republicans, are the the people some are advocating should be part of the Harris administration?
The people that want to deny people with no arms or that are blind, the right to vote.
This is who Republicans are.

slightlv

(4,325 posts)
8. I know where you're coming from angrychair...
Thu Oct 17, 2024, 09:33 AM
Oct 17

I'm angry, too. On one hand, I can understand that retaining our democracy is more important than just about anything... and right now, that means denying trump the presidency by hook or by crook! But I am NOT happy about the cavalier way it's been spoken of that R's will join us in the Harris administration. It looks yukky, and we're suppose to be getting these r's OUT of office... not putting them in! That way, we MIGHT be able to get some progressive legislation passed?

Martin68

(24,604 posts)
7. It makes sense if your purpose is to stifle voting to increase the chances for Republicans to win elections.
Thu Oct 17, 2024, 09:31 AM
Oct 17

Mz Pip

(27,891 posts)
10. What about mail boxes
Thu Oct 17, 2024, 10:57 AM
Oct 17

and post offices? Are they off limits, too?

I don’t understand the logic of keeping someone from dropping off a bunch of ballots in a drop box. Certainly, there are Republicans who are disabled and housebound. How are these ballots supposed to get delivered?

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