New Jersey NVRA Accessibility Challenge

Lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) against New Jersey Secretary of State Tenesha Way (D) and the president and CEO of the New Jersey Transit Corporation alleging that the state’s failure to designate certain state-funded transportation offices, which primarily serve individuals with disabilities, as voter registration sites violates the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). Section 7 of the NVRA requires that “any office in a covered State that provides either public assistance or state-funded programs primarily engaged in providing services to persons with disabilities must offer voter-registration services.” In the complaint, the plaintiffs allege that two state-funded transportation programs that serve individuals with disabilities, Access Link and Community Transportation, do not distribute and assist with voter registration forms when providing applications for disability transportation services in violation of Section 7 of the NVRA. The DOJ asks the federal court to require that New Jersey offer voter registration services at Access Link and Community Transportation offices “in the manner specified by Section 7 of the NVRA” and to “coordinate and direct a remedial program to offer voter registration services to Access Link and Community Transportation customers who applied for disability services from these offices in the four years preceding entry of a final order.” On Sept. 2, 2021, the court approved an agreement between the parties in which New Jersey consented to designating Access Link and Community Transportation as voter registration agencies under Section 7 of the NVRA.

Last updated: April 10, 2023 3:54 pm EST