(Updated to include attached lawsuit in 2nd graf and more details related to the ACLU’s objection to the polling site)
The American Civil Liberties Union on Friday took Ford County to court over its decision to move Dodge City’s lone polling place to a remote area outside of town that’s not easily accessible.
The ACLU is asking a federal judge to order the county to open another polling site.
The lawsuit asks the court to direct Ford County Clerk Debbie Cox to reopen the original polling location at the Civic Center to avoid voter confusion.
Cox moved the site from the Civic Center to an area outside of town because of construction.
The lawsuit was brought after it was discovered that county election officials mailed newly registered voters a registration certificate that listed the wrong polling location.
The controversy has grabbed national attention as voting rights advocates have rallied to help voters get to the polls on Election Day.
Earlier this week, the group Voto Latino announced it was working with Lyft to provide rides to residents who have no transportation to the city’s only polling site on the city’s outskirts.
“We think this is outrageous,” said ACLU of Kansas Executive Director Micah Kubic, referring to the series of events that have unfolded such as the flyer with the wrong polling address and the moving of the poll site to a remote area outside town.
“We understand that there are people who believe voting is a privilege but we don’t,” Kubich said in a statement. “It is a right that must be fiercely protected. We can and must do better.”
The new polling location at Dodge City’s Expo Center site is not accessible by public transportation, which many of Dodge City’s residents use, the ACLU says.
The Expo Center is also, on average, two times farther from the city’s largest employers, the group said. Sets of railroad tracks between voters and the site potentially could cause 20-minute delays during times people need poll access.
The decision to use the Expo site also moves the polling place farther from low-income, disabled, elderly and Hispanic voters, while moving the polling place closer to wealthier white residents near a country club.
The ACLU contends that the county’s decision to move the polling station violates the 14th Amendment by creating an undue burden on the right to vote.
It also argues that the decision to move the polling location violates a portion of the Voting Rights Act because it disproportionately affects Hispanic voters.
Ford County has a population of about 35,000 of which 53 percent are Hispanic. In Dodge City, about 60 percent of the city’s population is Hispanic.
The lone polling place serves about 13,000 voters. The ACLU says it’s one of the most burdened polling places in all of Kansas.
The ACLU’s lawsuit comes a little less than two weeks before the Nov. 6 general election featuring a hotly contest race between Democrat Laura Kelly, Republican Secretary of State Kris Kobach and independent Greg Orman.
