Membership in the Voting Rights Coalition - Bathrooms for Voters Project is by application-only or invitation-only. To apply to join, please contact Marc Dubin, Esq. at mdubin@pobox.com.
Please provide your name, title, and contact information, your organization's name and website address, and a brief reason for wanting to join. We look forward to hearing from you.
Friday, April 25, 2014
Thursday, April 24, 2014
MIT Study: Long Lines for Voters Results in Racial Discrimination
MIT Study Shows Racially Discriminatory Impact of Long Lines to Vote
"...A Massachusetts Institute of Technology analysis determined that blacks and Hispanics waited nearly twice as long in line to vote on average than whites. Florida had the nation’s longest lines, at 45 minutes, followed by the District of Columbia, Maryland, South Carolina and Virginia, according to Charles Stewart III, the political science professor who conducted the analysis.
A separate analysis, by an Ohio State University professor and The Orlando Sentinel, concluded that more than 200,000 voters in Florida “gave up in frustration” without voting.
“When I got there, the line was around the building,” said Jonathan Piccolo, 33, who said he had waited nearly eight hours to cast a ballot in Miami-Dade County the Monday before Election Day...."
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/05/us/politics/waiting-times-to-vote-at-polls-draw-scrutiny.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
The Genesis of the Voting Rights Coalition - Bathrooms for Voters Project - Miami Dade Shuts Down All Restrooms at All Polling Places
Background:
It is essential that voters have access to a restroom while waiting in line. Restrooms have now become an integral part of the voting experience. The CILSF was concerned that many voters with disabilities would be assigned to a polling place located at a church that lacked an accessible restroom and would therefore not come out to vote, knowing that the line was so long and that a restroom was not available.
When asked about the accessibility of the restrooms at churches, rather than agreeing to survey the restrooms for accessibility, or providing temporary measures such as ADA-Accessible PortaPotties, the County asserted that they had no legal obligation to determine whether restrooms at polling places were accessible, and then went a step further. The Elections Department wrote:
"...(I)n order to ensure that individuals with disabilities are not treated unfairly, the use of rest rooms by the Voters is not allowed on election day."
The County Attorney's Office confirmed this position, writing:
“(T)he Department’s policy is not to permit access to restrooms at polling sites on election days…. This policy was implemented to avoid situations where accessible restrooms would be available to some, but not all voters."
When questioned, the Elections Department assserted that allowing voters to use a restroom, despite the long lines to vote, was not required, and pointed out that some voters simply would not have the option to use a restroom at a polling place, stating:
“There’s no legal requirement for us to provide bathroom access, but we, as a courtesy to our voters, do when there is a bathroom at the polling place....That’s not always possible."
On March 31st, 2014, Marc Dubin, Esq., the Director of Advocacy at the Center for Independent Living of South Florida (and a former Senior Trial Attorney at the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division for 12 years, where he was responsible for nationwide enforcement of the ADA), was asked to testify at a Voting Rights Hearing in Miami, held by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which was looking into voter suppression across the United States. He revealed the County's policy of denying all voters, at all polling places, access to restrooms, and told of the County issuing this policy in response to an inquiry about accessible restrooms for voters with disabilities.
An online petition seeking to have the Justice Department open an investigation of Miami Dade's Elections Department quickly appeared on the DailyKos website, and in the space of only a few weeks, gathered over 128,000 signatures.
The media quickly carried the story:
Broward Sun Sentinel:
The Miami Herald
ThinkProgress Website
The Ed Show on MSNBC
CBS News
Daily Kos Website
(See "media coverage", on right)
And, the Voting Rights Coalition - Bathrooms for Voters Project was born. We are talking with the County about coming into compliance with federal civil rights laws, so that all voters can cast a vote.
The Center for Independent Living of South Florida (CILSF), a nonprofit organization serving individuals with disabilities in Miami Dade, Florida, asked the Miami Dade Elections Department what steps, if any, the County had undertaken to ensure that voters with disabilities could vote on Election Day at polling places designated by the County. The County designates polling places throughout the County, and assigns voters to specific locations on Election Day. The CILSF was concerned that some voters with disabilities might be assigned to a polling place that was inaccessible. The County assured the CILSF that all polling places had been surveyed, and that all polling places were accessible to voters with disabilities. What the Elections Department neglected to mention was that they had not surveyed restrooms at polling places to determine if they were accessible, and had no intentions of doing so. In addition, for the 2012 election, the County had designated over 200 churches as polling places. As churches are exempt from the ADA, there was reason to believe that voters assigned to vote at churches would not have accessible restrooms, and would therefore not be able to wait in lines to vote, as Florida had the longest lines in the nation, with voters in Miami Dade County having to wait as long as 7 hours to cast a vote.
It is essential that voters have access to a restroom while waiting in line. Restrooms have now become an integral part of the voting experience. The CILSF was concerned that many voters with disabilities would be assigned to a polling place located at a church that lacked an accessible restroom and would therefore not come out to vote, knowing that the line was so long and that a restroom was not available.
When asked about the accessibility of the restrooms at churches, rather than agreeing to survey the restrooms for accessibility, or providing temporary measures such as ADA-Accessible PortaPotties, the County asserted that they had no legal obligation to determine whether restrooms at polling places were accessible, and then went a step further. The Elections Department wrote:
"...(I)n order to ensure that individuals with disabilities are not treated unfairly, the use of rest rooms by the Voters is not allowed on election day."
The County Attorney's Office confirmed this position, writing:
“(T)he Department’s policy is not to permit access to restrooms at polling sites on election days…. This policy was implemented to avoid situations where accessible restrooms would be available to some, but not all voters."
When questioned, the Elections Department assserted that allowing voters to use a restroom, despite the long lines to vote, was not required, and pointed out that some voters simply would not have the option to use a restroom at a polling place, stating:
“There’s no legal requirement for us to provide bathroom access, but we, as a courtesy to our voters, do when there is a bathroom at the polling place....That’s not always possible."
On March 31st, 2014, Marc Dubin, Esq., the Director of Advocacy at the Center for Independent Living of South Florida (and a former Senior Trial Attorney at the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division for 12 years, where he was responsible for nationwide enforcement of the ADA), was asked to testify at a Voting Rights Hearing in Miami, held by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which was looking into voter suppression across the United States. He revealed the County's policy of denying all voters, at all polling places, access to restrooms, and told of the County issuing this policy in response to an inquiry about accessible restrooms for voters with disabilities.
An online petition seeking to have the Justice Department open an investigation of Miami Dade's Elections Department quickly appeared on the DailyKos website, and in the space of only a few weeks, gathered over 128,000 signatures.
The media quickly carried the story:
Broward Sun Sentinel:
The Miami Herald
ThinkProgress Website
The Ed Show on MSNBC
CBS News
Daily Kos Website
(See "media coverage", on right)
And, the Voting Rights Coalition - Bathrooms for Voters Project was born. We are talking with the County about coming into compliance with federal civil rights laws, so that all voters can cast a vote.
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