LAWSUIT FILED TO RESTORE VOTING RIGHTS
Statement of Matt LeMieux
ACLU of Eastern Missouri Executive Director
St. Louis, March 2, 2001 :This afternoon, the ACLU of Eastern Missouri, Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, and Mound City Bar Association will file a lawsuit on behalf of St. Louis City voters who have been disenfranchised and who we anticipate are likely again to be disenfranchised on Tuesday. These voters have been unable to exercise their constitutional right to vote because of practices and procedures used by the St. Louis Election Board. The practices include:
- the use of flawed inactive voter lists
- inadequately staffed polling places
- inadequate voting equipment
- inadequate training of election judges
- lack of sample balloting machines
- lack of available assistance to voters who need help completing a ballot, and
- improper identification requirements
A coalition of civil rights groups has attempted to rectify these problems by urging the Election Board to make appropriate changes. This group, which includes the NAACP, St. Louis Black Leadership Table, St. Louis Clergy Coalition, Missouri Interfaith Alliance and the Citizens Concerned with African-American Voter Disenfranchisement, came to the ACLU for legal help only after the Election Board refused to make adequate changes in the voting process. It is our hope that through this lawsuit, the constitutional right to vote will be restored to the thousands of St. Louis voters who are currently being disenfranchised.