The Commonwealth of Virginia has sued for access to polling places that have not been certified as accessible to all.
Acording to the Richmond Times Dispatch article published Sunday, the City of Richmond has resisted efforts by the State Office for Protection and Advocacy (VOPA) to certify their polling places.
In a lawsuit filed in Richmond Circuit Court, the Virginia Office for Protection and Advocacy (VOPA) says city officials have refused to allow agency representatives to monitor the voting places.
Such alleged refusal violates state and federal law, attorneys for VOPA say in the suit.
According to the suit, Richmond Registrar J. Kirk Showalter in a letter to a lawyer for the agency refused to allow VOPA to monitor city polling places.
"In monitoring polling places, VOPA only seeks to ascertain whether polling places are physically accessible to voters with disabilities," the suit says.
The idea that the most important yet basic right, the right to vote, should be withheld or otherwise infinged upon is revolting to me. I realize that all citizens everywhere have this right, but isn't it particularly cruel to make it hard or impossible for a disabled person to vote?
If I may, a personal mini-rant: The City of Richmond? The one with Doug Wilder as Mayor? Are you kidding me?
I would like to think that Wilder can do better for the city than this example.