Resource: American Council of the Blind of Indiana v. Indiana Election Comission

In a lawsuit filed December 2020 in federal district court in the Southern District of Indiana, plaintiffs Kristin Fleschner, Rita Kersh, and Michael Lauf, joined by Indiana Disability Rights and the American Council of the Blind of Indiana, assert that the Indiana Election Commission and the Secretary of State are discriminating against voters who are blind or have low vision by not offering the necessary accommodations that these voters need to vote privately and independently when using the absentee vote-by-mail program. The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys from Disability Rights Advocates and Indiana Disability Rights. In March 2022, the Honorable Jane Magnus-Stinson of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana found that Indiana’s absentee voting procedures discriminate against voters with print disabilities. In her order, Judge Magnus-Stinson struck down Indiana’s rule that absentee voters with print disabilities may only vote by appointment with a “traveling board” of elections officials for the May 2022 election. In September 2022, Judge Magnus-Stinson struck down Indiana’s rule again for the November 2022 general election.