The American Civil Liberties Union, Disability Rights Advocates, and Brown Goldstein Levy today sued the New York State Board of Elections and state Department of Motor Vehicles over online voter registration that is inaccessible to people with disabilities.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the National Federation of the Blind, the Center for the Independence of the Disabled, and individual plaintiffs who are blind. States are required by law to meet accessibility and confidentially standards when providing services such as online voter registration, but New York is failing to comply, the complaint charges.

Plaintiff Eva Eason of New York City encountered numerous obstacles when attempting to update her voter information online after getting married. Eason, who is blind, could not access the DMV site at all, and was only able access the Board of Elections online registration after securing sighted technical and non-technical assistance, compromising her privacy and independence. Plaintiff Meghan Schoeffling of Albany, who is also blind, encountered similar barriers.

"A lot of people paved the way and fought for me to be able to vote, so why is New York making it so hard?" said Eason. "Encountering these barriers was dehumanizing, degrading, and intrusive."