The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Missouri and Missouri Voter Protection Coalition have filed a lawsuit against the State of Missouri. The suit, filed Friday, seeks to make absentee mail-in balloting available to all eligible voters in the state.
The case was filed on behalf of the NAACP of Missouri, the League of Women Voters of Missouri and several individuals, according to a news release from the ACLU.
The organization says requiring voters to be physically present at their traditional polling places during the COVID-19 pandemic “is contrary to the advice of public health experts and puts people’s health at risk.”
Missouri requires voters to provide an excuse in order to vote absentee such as being away on election day or “incapacity or confinement due to illness or physical disability.”
There are three elections coming up in 2020: In June, August and November. The lawsuit seeks a ruling from the court clarifying that all eligible voters who are confining themselves to avoid contracting or spreading COVID-19 may invoke the confinement-due-to-illness reason for absentee voting, according to the ACLU.
