Mentally Ill Man Seeks Right to Vote

By KELLY WIESE, AP
Released OCT 6, 2004

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (Oct. 8) - A former law professor with schizoaffective disorder filed a federal lawsuit Friday challenging a Missouri law that denies voting rights to some people who are mentally ill.

Steven Prye, 51, said he moved to St. Louis from Illinois earlier this year and tried to register to vote but was turned down because he has a court-appointed guardian.

Under the Missouri Constitution and state law, those who have a guardian because of "mental incapacity" or are found by a court to be "incapacitated" cannot vote and can face criminal charges if they do.

The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law and the American Civil Liberties Union are helping represent Prye in the case. The Bazelon Center said the suit could have national implications. It said 26 states have a similar prohibition, and if the Missouri suit is successful, other states' policies might be challenged.

"These laws are blunt instruments that deny people their fundamental right to vote, regardless of their ability to understand elections and participate at the polls," said Jennifer Mathis, an attorney with the Washington D.C.-based center.

The center said more than 21,000 Missouri residents have some form of mental disability and St. Louis County, the state's largest county, has 2,100 people with court-ordered guardians.

Prye, a former professor at Vermont Law School and the University of Illinois Law School, has had a guardian since December 2003 and no longer teaches.

The suit alleges Missouri law violates the U.S. Constitution's rights to due process and equal protection and the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.

Prye wants a court to require the state to allow him to register and vote in the November election and to toss the provision from the constitution and state law.

The attorney general's office said Friday it had not seen the lawsuit, which was filed in Jefferson City federal court, and could not comment on it.

On the Net:

Bazelon Center: http://www.bazelon.org


10/08/04 22:04 EDT