Federal judge issues Ohio voting restrictions for voters with disabilities

CLEVELAND — A federal judge struck down part of Ohio’s government comprehensive election law of 2023which voting rights groups said prevented people from helping voters with disabilities cast absentee ballots.

Proponents of the vote argued that the Republican-backed law went too far prohibiting anyone except certain qualified family members from helping people with disabilities drop off their ballots, excluding potential helpers such as professional caregivers, roommates, in-laws and grandchildren.

They said the ruling handed down Monday by a U.S. District Court judge in Cleveland was a victory for democracy and voters.

“We are thrilled that the court has ordered the state to stop denying Ohioans with disabilities the opportunity to vote with the help of a trusted person of their choice. This is the correct reading of the Voting Rights Act and a validating decision for Ohio voters,” said Freda Levenson, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio.

The League of Women Voters of Ohio and voter Jennifer Kucera, who was born with a form of muscular dystrophy, filed suit in December under the Americans with Disabilities Act against the state’s Republican secretary of state, Frank LaRose.

The law, which took effect in April 2023, also made it a crime for anyone other than an election worker or postal worker to possess or return an absentee ballot from a voter with a disability, unless the person assisting the voter qualifies as a next of kin.

Republicans who supported the law argued that its provisions were designed to protect election integrity and restore voter confidence to a level moment of great doubt among Republican Party voters. The decision comes as former president Donald Trump and their Republican allies continue to spread false allegations that there were widespread fraud at the 2020 presidential election.

Voting rights advocates in Ohio say many voters with disabilities cannot travel to their polling places and many cannot access their mailboxes or ballot drop boxes.