Politics

Why 40 million eligible voters are restricted from many polling places

Published

2 years 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

Trump-backed Jay Feely wins GOP primary in Arizona’s battleground 1st District

Published

15 minutes ago

July 22, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Former Arizona Cardinals kicker Jay Feely cruised to victory in Arizona’s 1st District on Tuesday, one of the nation’s most competitive battlegrounds.

Feely, a close ally of President Donald Trump, leveraged Trump’s endorsement to topple former state Rep. Joseph Chaplik.

He’ll face a steep challenge defeating the Democratic nominee in November: The 1st District, which spans the affluent suburbs north of Phoenix, is one of House Democrats’ top targets after Trump won it by just three points in 2024. Feely is looking to keep the seat under GOP control amid a midterm year that presents major headwinds for the party.

Politics

Rep. Andy Biggs wins GOP primary for Arizona governor

Published

15 minutes ago

July 22, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Trump-endorsed Rep. Andy Biggs has won the GOP primary to face Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs in November, setting up a marquee governor’s race in one of America’s most competitive states.

Biggs, a former chair of the hardline House Freedom Caucus and a close ally of President Donald Trump, easily dealt with his only serious challenger, Rep. David Schweikert, on Tuesday. Before the primary results were official, he had already begun pivoting to the general election against Hobbs, who is seen as one of the most vulnerable Democratic governors this fall.

Republicans feel bullish about their odds of flipping the governorship, after Trump carried the state by five points in 2024. But even though Trump won last time, the state has gradually shifted to pure tossup territory over the past few years, electing Democrats to both Senate seats, as well as the attorney general and secretary of state’s offices.

Hobbs had already shifted her focus to Biggs as well. Her campaign has amassed a significant warchest for the race and has already started running ads. Biggs, given his lack of a significant primary challenge, has been able to hold onto more cash than his GOP rivals, but is still behind Hobbs.

The race will test whether Republicans, who are starting down a potentially bruising midterm cycle, can reclaim the top office of a state that has long been a place of success for the party.

During the Republican primary debate, Biggs spent more time talking about his working relationship with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly than he did flexing his endorsement from Trump or highlighting his House record, including his time atop the Freedom Caucus. Instead, he tried to refocus on his bipartisanship in Congress and his leadership in the state legislature.

“I know how to reach across the aisle,” Biggs said during the debate.

But he will still have to contend with many of his past stances, including his role in trying to overturn the 2020 election.

And Hobbs is already working to ensure voters know where Biggs stands on key issues as a longtime member of the House, including his anti-abortion positions and his role in 2020. Her campaign has repeatedly attacked him as “too extreme” for the state and has dubbed him “basement Biggs” for keeping a relatively low profile throughout the GOP primary.

Politics

Trump-backed Mark Lamb wins Arizona House primary despite sex scandals

Published

15 minutes ago

July 22, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

A scandal-plagued House candidate powered by President Donald Trump’s endorsement won a messy primary Tuesday.

Mark Lamb, the former Pinal County sheriff, overcame a late push from self-funding candidate Daniel Keenan in Arizona’s 5th District. Lamb will enter November as the heavy frontrunner in the deep-red Phoenix-area district to replace Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), who is running for governor.

Keenan had poured nearly $2 million of his own cash into the campaign and attempted to make Lamb’s alleged sexual misconduct and abuse of power central to the race. Lamb has denied the allegations.

But Lamb — bolstered by Trump and Arizona-based Turning Point USA — managed to ward off the attacks.

The race’s outcome reveals the strength of Trump’s endorsement, and it’s the latest example of how willing GOP primary voters have been to accept scandal-ridden candidates favored by the president.

Lamb, who served as sheriff until 2024, earned national notoriety as a gun-toting critic of the Biden administration’s immigration and border policy. He secured Trump’s backing for the 5th District contest last year.

Then in May, the Arizona Republic launched a multi-part investigation alleging that Lamb engaged in a yearslong pattern of sending sexual images and instigating intimate encounters between him, his wife and others. One woman involved, Jillian Stannard, accused Lamb of encouraging her husband to have sex with other women, including Lamb’s wife. She also alleged that Lamb threatened her, saying there would be consequences, when Stannard raised concerns to religious leaders.

Screenshots the Republic obtained of messages with another woman, Tammy Peacock, suggest Lamb — then a sitting county sheriff — threatened to leverage Arizona’s revenge porn law against her.

In a statement last week, Lamb spokesperson Ed Morabito told Blue Light News that “these allegations are false and come from long-discredited political opponents.”

Lamb did not lose any significant endorsements in the wake of the scandals — Trump reinforced his endorsement in mid-July — even as Keenan made the allegations central to his campaign.