Politics

Why 40 million eligible voters are restricted from many polling places

Published

4 months ago

November 11, 2024

Why 40 million eligible voters are restricted from many polling places

In November 2012, when I was a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, I cast my ballot at one of the dining halls. As someone who grew up in California, I was excited to feel that my vote “mattered” in a swing state. The building had an elevator and could be entered relatively easily if someone had a cane or required a wheelchair.

A year and a half later, in my final weeks at UNC, my polling place during the 2014 primary had changed to the local Hillel, just off campus. As I approached the building, the first thing I noticed was that it had two steps to get in, which made me think of how it might be harder for my physically disabled classmates to vote, to say nothing of my disabled Jewish classmates who wanted to freely practice their faith and meet similar people.

Just because a polling place has an accessibility symbol does not mean it is fully accessible for people with disabilities.

I thought about those moments earlier this month as early voting began in swing states like Georgia and North Carolina. The difference in those structures tells a story about how religious institutions are exempt from the same rules that require other private businesses and government buildings to accommodate people with disabilities. And it might compromise those people’s ability to cast their ballot.

A major reason for the discrepancy comes from the Rehabilitation Act of 1974 and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Section 504 of the ADA stipulates that any employers and organizations that receive financial assistance from the federal government cannot discriminate against people with disabilities. Most famously, in 1977, disability rights activists led by Judith Heumann, who died last year, occupied a federal building to force the federal government to implement that section.

But the ADA explicitly exempts religious institutions from Title III, which bans discrimination against people with disabilities in places of public accommodation, such as businesses open to the public. Religious organizations like the Southern Baptist Convention and the Catholic League actually lobbied for protection when the law was being written. William Bentley Ball, who was called God’s litigator, specifically warned that religious freedom “will be directly involved if churches and religious schools are not expressly exempted from the terms of the ADA.”

A new report from Rutgers University found that over 40 million eligible voters are disabled. Many of them may have to adjust their plans to avoid polling places that are difficult to access. According to Christianity Today, about 20% of polling places are in churches. And the raw number of religious institutions that serve as polling places masks the actual challenges given that religious institutions might be the only polling place in a county.

“Once you start to disaggregate the numbers and disaggregate the data, you see a different picture, where in particular states, it can be up to 50% — so half of all polling places — are located in churches or religious institutions,” Jasmine Harris, a professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania, told me.

This is not to say that nonreligious institutions are perfect. Far from it.

Take the battleground states of Georgia and North Carolina. On the first day of early voting in Georgia, more than 300,000 people cast their ballots. In North Carolina, more than 1 million people cast their ballots. People turning out in droves to vote is a moment for celebration in the United States. But obstacles remain to that turnout: In North Carolina, 25% of polling places are in churches. In Georgia, the share is 32%.

Harris also noted that just because a polling place has an accessibility symbol does not mean it is fully accessible for people with disabilities.

“That only gets you so far. That only would tell you whether the outside structure has any barriers, any architectural barriers,” she said. But that does not say what the training is like for poll workers or if the technology is accessible for people who are blind or low-vision.

“We have a really messy system that’s really problematic and has the guise of accessibility,” she said. And while it may not be an issue for a church to be a polling place in a city with many other options, in a place like Davidson Township, Pennsylvania, with only 549 residents, the sole polling location is a church, meaning that voters with disabilities may have few alternatives. In the 2020 election, according to Christianity Today, every polling place in Rincon, Georgia, population 11,000, was a church.

This is not to say that nonreligious institutions are perfect. Far from it. Thirty-four years after the ADA was enacted, many places of public accommodation and even government buildings remain wholly inaccessible. But to have a specific carveout for religious entities creates just one more barrier for people with disabilities. And ironically, it locks them out of using their voice to change circumstances to make the world more accessible.

Eric Garcia

Eric Garcia is the senior Washington correspondent and bureau chief for The Independent. He is the author of “We’re Not Broken: Changing the Autism Conversation.”

Politics

Andy Beshear hits Newsom for hosting Bannon on his new podcast

Published

14 hours ago

March 14, 2025

Blue Light Newsroom

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear took a swipe Thursday at a fellow leading Democrat, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, for hosting one of the most prominent figures in the MAGA movement on his new podcast.

Beshear, whose popularity in a heavily Republican state has turned him into a potential presidential candidate, told reporters that Newsom shouldn’t have opened his platform to Steve Bannon, an outspoken advocate of the “America first” agenda of President Donald Trump.

“I think that Governor Newsom bringing on different voices is great, we shouldn’t be afraid to talk and to debate just about anyone,” Beshear said at a Democratic policy retreat in Virginia. “But Steve Bannon espouses hatred and anger, and even at some points violence, and I don’t think we should give him oxygen on any platform, ever, anywhere.”

The criticism of Newsom, who is widely expected to run for president, amounted to what could be an early skirmish in the next Democratic primary. It also reflects divisions within a party trying to find its footing after Trump’s resounding victory.

The California governor recently launched the podcast, which appears to some degree to be an effort to find common ground with an ascendant conservative movement.

In his debut episode, speaking to Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA, Newsom drew widespread attention — and criticism — for suggesting that Democrats were wrong to allow transgender athletes to participate in female youth sports. He was also critical of progressives who have called for defunding the police or who use the gender neutral term “Latinx.”

Newsom defended his approach and the Bannon interview in an email statement on Wednesday, saying it is “critically important” to understand Trump’s movement and how it successfully operated in the last campaign.

In the hour-long episode, Bannon repeated the debunked claims that the 2020 election was stolen amid a discussion that also covered tariffs and taxes.

“I think we all agreed after the last election that it’s important for Democrats to explore new and unique ways of talking to people,” Newsom said.

A spokesperson for Newsom, who plans to have Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on his next episode, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Beshear’s remarks.

The Kentucky governor, who was a featured speaker at the retreat along with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, was not alone in criticizing the Bannon interview.

Former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who was one of the few Republicans in Congress to challenge Trump, called it an “insane” decision to host Bannon.

“I am in shock at the stupidity of [Newsom] inviting Steve Bannon on his podcast,” Kinzinger said Wednesday. “Many of us on the right sacrificed careers to fight Bannon, and Newsom is trying to make a career and a presidential run by building him up.”

Politics

Top Illinois Democrat readies a Senate bid — and tells people she has major backing

Published

1 day ago

March 13, 2025

Blue Light Newsroom

Ambitious Illinois Democrats are dreaming about Sen. Dick Durbin’s exit in 2026. The latest contender: the state’s lieutenant governor.

Juliana Stratton, who first took office in 2019, is quietly positioning herself for a Senate bid if Durbin bows out, calling key Democratic figures to ask for support, according to three people with knowledge of her plans, one of whom spoke with her directly and the other two who spoke with members of her team.

And she and her staff have said that she’s already secured the support of Gov. JB Pritzker, the three people said. They were granted anonymity to discuss private conversations and avoid political retribution. She and her team have made clear she expects Pritzker to be heavily involved financially, those people said.

“Juliana continues to keep an open mind about future opportunities, and if she does decide to pursue higher office, she’d be proud to earn the governor’s support while working to build a broad grassroots coalition,” said a spokesperson for the lieutenant governor, granted anonymity to discuss private conversations.

Pritzker, a high-profile governor and potential 2028 hopeful, is already a prolific Democratic donor and party operator, and his vast personal wealth would be a significant boost to any candidate. His money and endorsement could transform the brewing shadow primary that includes several members of the state’s congressional delegation.

His team declined to discuss an endorsement or financial backing in any potential primary. “We’re not going to engage with hypotheticals for a seat that’s not even open,” said a person close to the governor’s political operation granted anonymity to speak candidly.

The governor hand-picked Stratton, then a state representative, to be his running mate in 2017 and he was a guest of honor last month at a fundraising event for her newly formed federal PAC.

Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton speaks to reporters as Gov. JB Pritzker, to her left, looks on with other state lawmakers in Chicago on Feb. 10, 2025.

Pritzker, a billionaire heir to the Hyatt hotel empire, could support that PAC as well as donate millions to any other super PACs supporting her campaign. That kind of financial support could make Stratton the front-runner in a primary that would essentially guarantee a spot in the Senate in the heavily blue state.

And if a Pritzker-backed candidate wins the race, it could help position him even more firmly as a major Democratic powerbroker, one whose influence could extend beyond Illinois political circles as 2028 approaches.

Durbin has served in the Senate since 1997 and while many Democrats expect the 80-year-old will retire, those close to him say he hasn’t yet decided.

In a brief interview Wednesday, Durbin acknowledged the lieutenant governor was among the Democrats who are preparing for his possible retirement: “She said if I run she’s not going to.”

Democratic Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi has been padding his campaign account for years for a possible Senate run. He had amassed $17.1 million by the end of 2024. His fellow Democratic Reps. Lauren Underwood, who flipped a GOP-held district in 2018, and Robin Kelly, the former chair of the Illinois Democratic Party, are also eyeing the seat.

And Illinois Democrats have made a parlor game of wondering what’s next for Rahm Emanuel, the former Chicago mayor who just returned from an ambassador stint in Japan. For now, he’s a commentator on BLN.