US District Judge Alfred H. Bennett [official website] on Saturday said he was considering initiating an independent review [AP report] of disabled voter access to polling locations in Houston. The judge’s consideration comes as part of a lawsuit filed against Harris County in the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas [official website], which alleged the county failed to provide voting sites in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) [text], in violation of the Constitution. Among the factors allegedly contributing to the equal protection claim are the failure of Harris County to provide handicap parking, ramps, sidewalks and other accommodations for disabled citizens. According to Judge Bennett, the contemplated oversight will likely include a site-by-site examination of each polling place.

Voting rights continue to be a pressing issue. Earlier in March a three-judge panel of the US District Court for the Western District of Texas ruled [JURIST report] that the boundaries of three voting districts violated the Voting Rights Act and the Equal Protection Clause of the US Constitution. Also in March the US Supreme Court ruled [JURIST report] that Virginia’s redistricting scheme must be examined for racial bias. In February the state of Georgia settled a lawsuit [JURIST report] against Secretary of State Brian Kemp over a voter registration law that would reject any application that did not exactly match personal identification information in state and federal databases.