394 U.S. 802 (1969), 68, McDonald v. Board of Election Commissioners

• Citation: 394 U.S. 802, 89 S.Ct. 1404, 22 L.Ed.2d 739
• Party Name: McDonald v. Board of Election Commissioners
• Case Date: April 28, 1969
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

Page 802

394 U.S. 802 (1969)

89 S.Ct. 1404, 22 L.Ed.2d 739

McDonald

v.

Board of Election Commissioners

No. 68

United States Supreme Court

April 28, 1969

Argued November 19, 1968

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS

Syllabus

Appellants are qualified Cook County electors who are unsentenced inmates of the Cook County jail awaiting trial. They allege that Illinois' failure to include them among the classes of persons entitled to absentee ballots violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The District Court granted summary judgment for appellees holding that extending absentee ballots to those physically incapacitated for medical reasons constituted a proper and reasonable classification not violative of equal protection.

Held: Illinois' failure to provide absentee ballots for appellants does not violate the Equal Protection Clause. Pp. 806-811.

(a) While classifications "which might invade or restrain [voting rights] must be closely scrutinized and carefully confined," a more exacting judicial scrutiny is not necessary here, since the distinctions made by Illinois' absentee voting provisions are not drawn on the basis of wealth or race, Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections, 383 U.S. 663, and there is nothing in the record to show that Illinois has precluded appellants from voting. Pp. 806-808.

(b) A state legislature traditionally has been allowed to take reform "one step at a time," and need not run the risk of losing its entire remedial scheme (here absentee voting) because it failed to cover every group that might have been included. Pp. 809, 811.

(c) Since there is nothing to show that the judicially incapacitated appellants are absolutely prohibited from voting, it is reasonable for Illinois to treat differently the physically handicapped. Pp. 809-810.

(d) Constitutional safeguards are not offended by the different treatment accorded unsentenced inmates incarcerated within and those incarcerated without their counties of residence. P. 810.

277 F.Supp. 14, affirmed.

Page 803

WARREN, J., lead opinion

MR. CHIEF JUSTICE WARREN delivered the opinion of the Court.

Appellants and the class they represent are unsentenced inmates awaiting trial in the Cook County jail who, though they are qualified Cook County electors, cannot readily appear at the polls either because they are charged with nonbailable offenses or because they have been unable to post the bail imposed by the courts of Illinois.¹ They cannot obtain absentee ballots, for they constitute one of a number of classes for whom no provision for absentee voting has yet been made by the Illinois Legislature. The constitutionality of Illinois' failure to include them with those who are entitled to vote absentee is the primary issue in this direct appeal from a three-judge court.

[89 S.Ct. 1406] The specific provisions attacked here, Ill.Rev.Stat., c. 46, § § 19-1 to 19-3, have made absentee balloting available to four classes of persons: (1) those who are absent from the county of their residence for any reason whatever; (2) those who are "physically incapacitated," so long as they present an affidavit to that effect from a licensed physician; (3) those whose observance of a religious holiday precludes attendance at the polls, and (4) those who are serving as poll watchers in precincts

Page 804

other than their own on election day.² The availability of the absentee ballot in Illinois has been extended to its present coverage by various amendments over the last 50 years. Prior to 1917, Illinois had no provision for absentee voting, requiring personal attendance at the polls, and in that year the legislature made absentee voting available to those who would be absent from the county on business or other duties. In 1944, absentee voting was made available to all those absent from the county for any reason. The provisions for those remaining in the county but unable to appear at the polls because of physical incapacity, religious holidays, or election duties were added in 1955, 1961, and 1967, respectively.

On March 29, 1967, appellants made timely³ application for absentee ballots for the April 4 primary because of their physical inability to appear at the polls on that election day. The applications were accompanied by an affidavit from the warden of the Cook County jail attesting to that inability. These applications were refused by

Page 805

the appellee Board of Election Commissioners on the ground that appellants were not "physically incapacitated" within the meaning of §§ 19-1 and 19-2 of the Illinois Election Code. On the same day, appellants filed a complaint, alleging that they were unconstitutionally excluded from the coverage of the absentee provisions. They requested that a three-judge court be convened to rule the provisions violative of equal protection insofar as the provisions required denial of an absentee ballot to one judicially incapacitated while making it available at the same time to one medically incapacitated, and they sought an injunction to restrain appellee Board "from refusing to grant [appellants'] timely applications for absentee ballots." The District Court granted appellants' request for temporary relief on March 30, before the three-judge court was convened, and ordered the Board to issue ballots to qualified Illinois electors awaiting trial in the Cook County jail.⁴ Both parties then filed motions for summary judgment, the Board asserting that [89 S.Ct. 1407] to honor the applications would subject its members to criminal liability under Illinois law.⁵

Page 806

On December 11, the District Court granted summary judgment for the Board, holding that the Illinois provisions extending absentee voting privileges to those physically incapacitated because of medical reasons from appearing at the polls constituted a proper and reasonable legislative classification not violative of equal protection. The case was brought here by appellants on direct appeal, 390 U.S. 1038 (1968), and we affirm.

Appellants argue that Illinois' absentee ballot provisions violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment for two reasons. First, they contend that, since the distinction between those medically incapacitated and those "judicially" incapacitated bears no reasonable relationship to any legitimate state objective, the classifications are arbitrary and therefore in violation of equal protection. Secondly, they argue that, since pretrial detainees imprisoned in other States or in counties within the State other than those of their own residence can vote absentee as Illinois citizens absent from the county for any reason, it is clearly arbitrary to deny the absentee ballot to other unsentenced inmates simply because they happen to be incarcerated within their own resident counties. Underlying appellants' contentions is the assertion that, since voting rights are involved, there is a narrower scope for the operation of the presumption of constitutionality than would ordinarily be the case with state legislation challenged in this Court. See Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U.S. 356, 370 (1886).

Before confronting appellants' challenge to Illinois' absentee provisions, we must determine initially how stringent a standard to use in evaluating the classifications made thereunder and whether the distinctions must be justified by a compelling state interest; for appellants assert

Page 807

that we are dealing generally with an alleged infringement of a basic, fundamental right. See, e.g., Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533 (1964); Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections, 383 U.S. 663 (1966). Thus, while the "States have long been held to have broad powers to determine the conditions under which the right of suffrage may be exercised," Lassiter v. Northampton...