Connecticut: Justice Department probe how state handles disabled voters’ ballots | Connecticut Post
Federal authorities are investigating possible privacy and disability act violations in the way Connecticut’s towns and cities require handicapped Americans to vote in referendum elections. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ndidi N. Moses sent a letter dated Feb. 1, to most, if not all, of the first selectmen, mayors and town managers of the state’s 169 municipalities informing them of the probe. It advises them a complaint was filed contending violations of federal civil rights laws and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Specifically, the allegation charges that voting by paper ballots, which are then segregated and hand-counted, violates privacy and secrecy requirements that are afforded non-disabled voters. U.S. Attorney Deirdre Daly said her office is acting on a complaint “that certain cities and towns in Connecticut may not be in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act during referendum voting.”