Access to vote for disabled generally good in Minnesota

ST. PAUL (AP) — Those who monitor voting access for people with disabilities say Minnesota generally does a good job on the issue, but the state’s is not without challenges.

Minnesota Council on Disability ADA Director David Fenley says while barriers still persist, Minnesota provides good general access for voters with different disabilities. Polling stations are equipped with an accessible voting machine for people with vision impairments, with many counties using an electronic ballot marker machine called AutoMARK.

“Just say, ‘Hey, where’s your AutoMARK? I need an accessible voting machine,’ “ he advised.

The executive director at a new Minnesota-based organization called Able to Vote, Grace Gouker Littlefield, is working to connect people with voting resources. Littlefield said she wants to see more disabled voters like herself with equal access across the country — starting in her own backyard this fall, Minnesota Public Radio News reported.

A chat feature on the Able to Vote website connects staff to people who need assistance finding transportation to the polls, coming up with a voting plan or reporting an accessibility barrier.

“Just understand that the lives of people with disabilities can be very complex,” Littlefield said. “And this process should not be political, even though people are voting for political offices, sometimes. The process should be that in order to have the most flourishing democracy possible, one where everyone’s views are represented to their fullest capacity, everybody should be working together to make voting accessible.”

Media makes fresh plea for access to ex-cop Potter’s trial

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — News organizations made a fresh plea Monday to the judge overseeing the case of a former suburban Minneapolis police officer charged in the death of Daunte Wright, asking her to allow live video coverage of the trial because of the continuing threat of COVID-19 and the strong public interest.

Judge Regina Chu ruled in August that there will be no recording or livestreaming of Kim Potter’s trial, which is due to start Nov. 30.

Chu said the public and media would have ample space to view the trial in the courtroom or in designated overflow rooms. And she noted that the defendant had objected. Chu said the “extraordinary circumstances” that led a different judge to allow live audiovisual coverage of the trial of ex-officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd no longer applied.

But a coalition of media organizations, including The Associated Press, asked the judge in filings Monday to reconsider. Attorney Leita Walker wrote that COVID cases have spiked since August and may not abate before the trial. And she said the resulting limitations to access to proceedings at the courthouse apparently will mean a total exclusion of the public and all but a few members of the media.

Walker said the only way to provide “reasonable and meaningful access” is to allow live video coverage.

Potter, a former Brooklyn Center officer who is white, fatally shot Wright, a 20-year-old Black motorist, on April 11. She has said she meant to use her Taser instead of her handgun as Wright was trying to drive away from officers. She’s charged with first- and second-degree manslaughter.

Under Minnesota court rules, audio and video coverage of a criminal trial is barred unless all parties consent. Coverage of sentencings is allowed without consent, unless the judge finds cause to prohibit it. Judge Peter Cahill made an exception for Chauvin’s case to balance his right to a public trial and the public’s right to access against the risks of the pandemic.