(Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM)Polling Precinct in Police Station Chills Voting Rights, ACLU Claims
"Forcing voters to cast their ballots under the steely gaze of armed law enforcement officers all but amounts to government-sponsored voter intimidation," ACLU attorneys said in a letter to the Clayton County Board of Elections demanding reconsideration.
October 16, 2019 at 05:08 PM
3 minute read
The American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia said a city's decision to relocate a polling place to a police station is intimidating and possibly illegal.
The precinct at issue serves a primarily African American community in the city of Jonesboro.
"Forcing voters to cast their ballots under the steely gaze of armed law enforcement officers all but amounts to government-sponsored voter intimidation," ACLU attorneys said in a letter to the Clayton County Board of Elections demanding reconsideration. "It should come as no surprise that placing a polling place in a police station would prevent or deter voters in this community from exercising their sacred right to vote."
The attorneys also said the move "may very well be illegal."
The Oct. 8 letter said Section 11(b) of the Voting Rights Act prohibits any attempt to "intimidate, threaten, or coerce any person from voting or attempting to vote."
ACLU of Georgia legal director Sean Young signed the letter, along with staff attorneys Aklima Khondoker and Sophia Lin Lakin. They said the U.S. Congress adopted Section 11(b) of the Voting Rights Act "to provide broad protections against all forms of voter intimidation—regardless of method or motive."
The Board of Elections did not offer an immediate response to the demand. But the ACLU lawyers said the board referred them to the Jonesboro City Council, which voted in September to move the polling place from the fire museum, which is under renovation, to the police station. The city council's chambers and many community and civic meetings are held in the police station.
However, the ACLU said Wednesday that Mayor Pro Tem Alfred Dixon had spoken out against the measure to the council, saying, "I don't want anyone feeling discouraged from voting on Election Day, and if voting at a police station has the potential of stopping a single person from voting, we need to explore other options."
The ACLU praised Dixon's comments in a news release Wednesday. "Our democracy requires that voting be open and available to all. Voting at a police station is clearly intimidating and a barrier to the ballot—especially for people of color," Khondoker said in the news release. "We're glad that they are considering moving the polling location. Otherwise, this has the potential to violate the Voting Rights Act, the federal law designed to protect our sacred, constitutional right to vote."
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