American Council of the Blind of Indiana v. Indiana Election Commission

Indiana voters could vote in person on election day or via one of four absentee-voting options. The first option allowed a voter to cast an absentee ballot in person at authorized locations before the election. Those unable to mark the ballot themselves could choose someone to assist them. The second option allowed certain voters, including voters with disabilities, to receive a paper ballot by mail and return it by mail or delivery to an election office. Those who could not mark the ballot themselves were required to vote in front of an absentee voter board. The third option allowed a voter with a disability to request a traveling absentee voter board. Members of a traveling voter board would visit the voter’s house. If the person could not mark the ballot himself or herself, then a board member would assist. The fourth option allowed voters with print disabilities, meaning disabilities making it difficult to read printed text, to request an absentee-ballot application by mail, email, fax, or a web application, and then cast their ballot by mail, email, or fax. However, the state had failed to develop a system making the fourth option sufficiently accessible for the blind. Consequently, the only absentee options available to blind persons were in-person early voting, voting in front of an absentee board, or voting at home in front of a traveling-board member. No option allowed voting privately from home, which was an option for nondisabled persons. The American Council of the Blind and others (collectively, ACBI) (plaintiffs) sued various Indiana entities and officials (defendants), claiming that the state’s exclusion of blind voters from private home voting violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act. On February 7, 2022, ACBI petitioned for a preliminary injunction leading up to the May 3, 2022, primary election. ACBI sought an injunction that required the state to (1) adopt an online Remote Accessible Vote by Mail program that allowed persons with print disabilities to vote electronically using screen-reading assistive technology and (2) allow voters with print disabilities to vote by mail from home with the assistance of a person of their choosing rather than a traveling-board member.