LAWSUIT CHALLENGES GUARDIANSHIP VOTING RESTRICTION
Legal Advocates Challenge Missouri Voter Practices
Lawsuit Alleges Mental Competence Requirements Violate Federal Law
St. Louis, MO (Fri., Oct. 8)--Legal advocates filed suit in federal court today against the State of Missouri to end the practice of barring people from voting or registering to vote because they have been placed under court-ordered guardianship.
The case, filed by the ACLU of Eastern Missouri, ACLU Voting Rights Project, Bazelon Center for Mental Health and Missouri Protection and Advocacy, is nationally significant. Missouri is one of 26 states that prohibit all people with mental disabilities who are under guardianship from voting. Depending on the ruling in the Missouri case, these states could also face challenges.
"States like Missouri automatically shut thousands of people with mental disabilities out of the democratic process," said Jennifer Mathis, senior staff attorney at the Washington, DC-based Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law. "These laws are blunt instruments that deny people their fundamental right to vote, regardless of their ability to understand elections and participate at the polls."
More than 211,000 Missourians have some sort of mental disability, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In St. Louis County alone, an estimated 2,100 individuals are currently under court-ordered guardianship, according to sources at the county's Office of Public Administration.
Under the Missouri Constitution, a person is prohibited from voting if he or she has "a guardian of his or her estate or person by reason of mental incapacity[] appointed by a court of competent jurisdiction." People with mental disabilities are also barred from voting or registering to vote under state law if they have been "adjudged incapacitated."
Steven Prye, a 52-year-old St. Louis resident and former law professor, decided to file the lawsuit after election officials told him he could not register to vote because he is currently under guardianship in the State of Illinois.
Prye attended Yale as an undergraduate and holds a law degree from Harvard. At age 49, he was diagnosed with a mental illness. While living in Illinois, his condition deteriorated and a guardian was appointed for him.
Illinois does not bar people under guardianship from voting. However, Prye recently moved to Missouri, where guardianship proceedings are pending and his status prevents him from even registering to vote.
"Steven Prye is more engaged and better informed than many voters I know," said Tony Rothert, Prye's legal counsel with the Illinois Guardianship and Advocacy Commission. "It is absolutely outrageous that Missouri law could prevent him from making his voice heard."
An avid voter, Prye knows the judicial philosophy of every sitting Supreme Court Justice and is concerned about the effect of the election's outcome on appointments to the high Court.
Prye is represented in the lawsuit by Rothert, the Bazelon Center, the American Civil Liberties Union's Voting Rights Project, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Eastern Missouri and Missouri Protection & Advocacy.
"This is a crucial case for the rights of Missourians and for all Americans," said Denise Lieberman, Legal Director of the ACLU of Eastern Missouri. "Democratic participation is absolutely essential to a free society."
The lawsuit alleges violations of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Mr. Prye seeks an injunction to allow him to register and vote in Missouri and a declaratory judgment that the state's prohibition violates federal law and the U.S. Constitution.
Several state and local officials are named as defendants in the lawsuit, including Missouri's Secretary of State Matt Blunt and Attorney General Jay Nixon, and members of the St. Louis Board of Elections and Board of Election Commissioners.
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The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law is a national legal advocate for people with mental disabilities. For more information, see www.bazelon.org.
ACLU of Eastern Missouri is an affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, a national organization that protects and defends civil liberties. For more information, see www.aclu-mo.org.