## Facts

- Blind and mobility-impaired Texas voters and a disability organization sued state and local election actors alleging denial of equal access to polling sites and voting procedures.
- Blind voters alleged they could vote only with assistance from another person, preventing an entirely secret ballot.
- A mobility-impaired voter alleged difficulty using parking and restroom facilities and asserted widespread physical inaccessibility of polling places.
- Texas law permitted voter assistance in marking a ballot when a voter cannot write or see due to disability.
- After class certification, the local Republican Party was dismissed, and plaintiffs settled with El Paso County and the local Democratic Party, leaving the Texas Secretary of State as the sole defendant.
- The district court found the Secretary liable under Title II of the ADA and § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and issued a statewide injunction requiring measures for secret balloting for blind voters and physically accessible polling places.
- The Secretary appealed, challenging liability and the scope of the injunction.

## Issues

1. Whether the Texas Secretary of State could be held liable under Title II of the ADA and § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act for alleged statewide denial of voting access to blind and mobility-impaired voters.
2. Whether the district court’s statewide injunctive relief was authorized and supported, given the Secretary’s limited role in county-run election administration.

## Decision

- The Fifth Circuit reversed and rendered judgment for the Secretary of State.
- The court held plaintiffs did not establish that the Secretary violated Title II or § 504.
- The court vacated the statewide injunction requiring changes to voting technology and polling-place accessibility.

## Legal Principles

- ADA Title II and § 504 require qualified individuals with disabilities be afforded meaningful access to public programs; they do not necessarily require identical experiences for disabled and non-disabled participants.
- Liability and remedial obligations under Title II and § 504 must correspond to the defendant official’s actual authority and responsibilities under state law.
- Where election administration is conducted by counties and local officials, a state official with supervisory or advisory duties is not automatically responsible for local polling-place conditions.
- On the record presented, statutory voter-assistance procedures could constitute a reasonable accommodation for blind voters; the statutes did not compel statewide adoption of specialized equipment to ensure fully secret balloting.
- Injunctive relief under Title II and § 504 must be narrowly tailored to proven violations and supported by an evidentiary record sufficient to justify the remedy, particularly when the remedy would reorganize decentralized state-local responsibilities.

## Conclusion

The Fifth Circuit held that the plaintiffs failed to prove that the Texas Secretary of State, given his limited statutory authority over county-run elections, was responsible under the ADA or the Rehabilitation Act for alleged statewide barriers to accessible voting, and it set aside the district court’s broad statewide injunction.


Lightbourn v. Cnty. of El Paso, 118 F.3d 421 (5th Cir. 1997)