U.S. DOJ may sue, alleges lack of voting equipment for people with disabilities in two Wisconsin towns

The U.S. Department of Justice has threatened a lawsuit over the agency's determination that two Rusk County communities and the state had failed to offer voting equipment for people with disabilities at each polling place in the April 2 presidential primary election.

The July 8 letter from Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke says she had authorized the filing of a lawsuit against the State of Wisconsin, the state Elections Commission and Administrator Meagan Wolfe, and the towns of Thornapple and Lawrence in addition to the towns' clerks and boards of supervisors.

The investigation determined the lack of voting equipment had violated Help America Vote Act of 2002, she wrote in a letter first reported by VoteBeat.

"We hope to resolve this matter amicably and to avoid protracted litigation. Accordingly, we are prepared to delay filing the complaint briefly to permit us time to negotiate a consent decree to be filed with the complaint," she wrote.

The U.S. Department of Justice did not immediately respond to questions about the status of any lawsuit or consent decree.

Town of Thornapple officials either did not immediately return requests for comment Friday afternoon or declined to comment.

Suzanne Pinnow, Thornapple's chief election official, in a May Journal Sentinel article disputed that voters with disabilities were unable to use an accessible voting machine during the April election. She did not immediately respond to a voicemail seeking comment Friday.

Town of Lawrence officials could not immediately be reached Friday afternoon.

An Elections Commission spokesman declined to comment on the letter Friday.

In May, the Journal Sentinel reported that federal investigators had been raising questions about how voters with disabilities in the Town of Thornapple were casting ballots after a small board overseeing the town had voted to eliminate electronic voting machines.

Town officials did not specify what equipment was dispensed with. In Wisconsin, most votes are cast by paper ballots that are then fed into electronic counting machines.

The decision appears to have been made around the time of visits to the area by one of the nation's most prominent election conspiracy theorists and as a discussion in the local newspaper was playing out over whether to abandon electronic voting machines.

Last year's decision to only hand-count paper ballots caught the attention of officials at the state and federal levels after advocates for people with disabilities raised concerns about the April presidential primary.

The U.S. DOJ's July letter states that federal law sets standards for states for each voting system used in federal elections. Among the requirements is that each voting system "be accessible for individuals with disabilities, including nonvisual accessibility for the blind and visually impaired, in a manner that provides the same opportunity for access and participation (including privacy and independence) as for other voters,” the letter states.

That means voting systems used for federal elections have to have "at least one direct recording electronic voting system or other voting system equipped for individuals with disabilities at each polling place," the letter states.

And, guidance from the state Elections Commission issued in June says that accessible voting equipment must be provided for all elections administered by a municipality, not just federal elections, under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Molly Beck of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this story.

Alison Dirr can be reached at adirr@jrn.com. Mary Spicuzza can be reached at mary.spicuzza@jrn.com.