William Earl Whitley, a Black, disabled U.S. Army Veteran who lost both legs in Vietnam, often relies on neighbors in Okolona, Miss., for help with his daily activities—including collecting and mailing his absentee ballots in at election time.
In the past, Okolona residents Yvonne Gunn, 73, and Mamie Cunningham, 83, have helped collect and mail his ballots for him. But after the Mississippi Legislature passed and Gov. Tate Reeves signed Senate Bill 2358 into law this year, the 78-year-old veteran fears they could face criminal penalties.
The anti-“ballot harvesting” law penalizes Mississippians who collect and transmit mailed absentee ballots on another person’s behalf. A coalition of voting rights groups is now asking a federal court to block the law on behalf of the three Okolona residents along with Disability Rights Mississippi and the League of Women Voters of Mississippi.
The Mississippi Center for Justice, the national and state branches of the American Civil Liberties Union and the Southern Poverty Law Center joined forces with DRMS to file the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi on Wednesday.
The plaintiffs said in a press release Wednesday that S.B. 2358 “significantly diminishes access to the ballot for Mississippians with disabilities” in future elections.
The complaint says Cunningham and Gunn have long helped register and cast absentee ballots. It says Whitley, who lost his legs after exposure to Agent Orange, “suffers daily from phantom pain.”
“Mr. Whitley has relied on both Ms. Cunningham and Ms. Gunn in the past to assist him in voting, including the mailing of his completed absentee ballot,” it continues. “Mr. Whitley wishes to continue to have them assist him but he does not want to put them at risk of facing criminal penalties.”
“That right to assistance applies to all aspects of the voting process—from registration, to casting a ballot, to having that vote counted properly—and regardless of the method by which the voter lawfully chooses to vote,” the plaintiffs stated in the complaint filing.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, 37% of Mississippi adults are disabled.
The new ballot-harvesting law is
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