Partner Eve Hill was quoted by the Daily Californian about Brown, Goldstein & Levy, Disability Rights Advocates, and Disability Rights California filing a preliminary injunction against California’s vote-by-mail program for a fully-accessible voting system.
“This case is aligned with the national effort to make voting accessible to voters with disabilities,” said Eve Hill to the Daily Californian. “(It) will set a precedent that federal law requires states to make their absentee voting systems fully accessible to voters with disabilities.”
The preliminary injunction would provide accessible voting to California residents which would allow individuals with print disabilities, including blind individuals and those who have limited manual dexterity, to vote remotely without assistance in time for the November 2024 election. Currently, California’s remote accessible vote-by-mail system is not accessible to voters with print disabilities. Eve noted that voters with print disabilities cannot vote without assistance since they are obligated to print out the ballot, place it in a special envelope and sign it.
The injunction motion follows a March 8 lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California against California Secretary of State Shirley Weber to challenge discrimination in the vote-by-mail program.
The lawsuit was filed by Brown, Goldstein & Levy, Disability Rights Advocates, and Disability Rights California. They filed the motion on behalf of the California Council of the Blind, the National Federation of the Blind of California, and individual plaintiffs Christopher Gray, Russell Rawlings, and Vita Zavoli.
This case is brought under the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and California law to challenge California Secretary of State Shirley Weber’s inaction toward ensuring the accessibility of the absentee voting program.
ABOUT EVE HILL
Eve Hill is one of the nation’s leading civil rights lawyers, known especially for her work with clients with disabilities and LGBTQ+ clients. She has been recognized by Law360 as one of just 12 “Titans of the Plaintiffs’ Bar” for 2023, as well as by Lawdragon as one of the 500 Leading Lawyers in America (2022 and 2023). Her wide-ranging experience complements Brown, Goldstein & Levy’s decades of dedication to high-impact disability rights cases and its advocacy on behalf of individuals with disabilities and their families. Eve also leads Inclusivity, BGL’s Strategic Consulting Group, which works with organizations to promote the education, engagement, and employment of people with disabilities. Learn more about Eve here.
Founded in 1982, Brown, Goldstein & Levy is a law firm based in Baltimore, Maryland, with an office in Washington, D.C. The firm is nationally recognized in a wide variety of practice areas, including complex civil and commercial litigation, civil rights, health care, family law, and criminal defense. Above all else, Brown, Goldstein & Levy is a client-centered law firm that brings decades of experience and passionate, effective advocacy to your fight for justice.