The landscape of voting in Michigan has evolved significantly, with expanded early in-person voting, enhanced absentee ballot tracking, and permanent absentee ballot registration now available.

As voters prepare to head to the polls again in November, a new monument in Detroit commemorates the long journey toward voting rights for all.

The dedication ceremony for the Civil Rights Monument took place at Viola Liuzzo Playground, located at the corner of Winthrop and Trojan on Detroit’s west side. The monument honors Viola Liuzzo, a Detroit woman inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who traveled to Alabama to participate in the Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965. Tragically, Liuzzo was murdered by the Ku Klux Klan in Lowndes County. Before her departure, she asked her friend, Sarah Evans, to care for her five children if anything happened to her—a promise that Evans kept.

The monument features images of Liuzzo and Evans with the inscription “Sisters in life…Sisters in struggle,” and on the opposite side, it lists the names of Detroiters who answered Dr. King’s call to support the Selma marches, including notable figures like Rosa Parks and John Lewis.

Dorothy Dewberry Aldridge, a civil rights activist and historian, described the monument as a “teaching monument,” intended to educate the public about the events of 1965.

Collette Mezza, also a member of the Viola Liuzzo Park Association, emphasized the significance of each name on the monument.

“They each have their own remarkable story, and what inspired them to go down to Selma in 1965, and many of them are still alive and many of them continue their activism like Dorothy,” Mezza said.

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who attended the ceremony, said everyone today has an opportunity to continue the fight for voting rights.

“Let us all recommit to continuing on that legacy as a new generation of foot soldiers who are marching forward for democracy teaching about the past and being clear-eyed about the present challenges and the work we must do to preserve that sacred promise of democracy for everyone.”

The event concluded with a ceremonial march around the park, echoing the marches of 1965 and honoring those who fought for voting rights.

Editor’s note: A previously uploaded version of this episode included incorrect audio from an earlier episode about grief and loss.

A staggering amount of metro Detroit’s polling stations are not accessible for disabled people — 84%, according to a 2022 audit by Detroit Disability Power.

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Another, less visible, barrier to democratic participation is equitable access to information. Yet nearly half of Detroit households don’t have broadband access.

That picture only gets worse when you account for household income. 

Voting sites inaccessible 

There were four criteria Detroit Disability Power used in their audit to define accessibility at a polling location: 

1. An accessible parking area with a clear pathway into the building
2. A fully accessible voter assist terminal (VAT)
3. An accessible entrance into the building
4. An accessible booth for casting paper ballots privately

Dessa Cosma from Detroit Disability Power says that being able to vote in-person without barriers is a democratic issue, but the state of polling location accessibility now is not acceptable. 

“I can tell you as a disabled voter, it is frustrating and demoralizing and dehumanizing to go exercise my right to vote and realize that people weren’t prepared for me to show up,” Cosma said. “When they were thinking about who mattered and people they needed to set up their day for, I wasn’t on their list.”

Detroit Disability Power plans to conduct another audit of metro Detroit’s polling locations for the general election in November. 

Internet access 

Democratic acts such as voting, accessing a city hall website, attending virtual public meetings, or contacting representatives are all reliant on having internet access.  

Detroit is among the worst-connected cities in the nation, with nearly 40% of homes without a broadband connection. 

But access to broadband internet is only one of three pillars of digital equity, says Christopher Ali, telecommunications research at Penn State University. The other two pillars are affordability and skillset. 

“The internet is our window to the world right now. It’s how we get news and information […] it’s how we engage with the many of the governmental services we need to do on a daily basis. It’s how we book the COVID vaccine and apply for benefits and file our taxes,” Ali said.

Cosma and Ali both joined Created Equal on Wednesday to discuss equitable access to voting and information.

Guests:  

• Dessa Cosma is the executive director of Detroit Disability Power

• Christopher Ali is the Pioneers Chair in Telecommunications and professor of telecommunications in the Bellisario College at Penn State. Ali is the author of “Farm Fresh Broadband: Politics of Rural Connectivity.” 

Listen to Created Equal with host Stephen Henderson weekdays from 9-10 a.m. ET on 101.9 WDET and streaming on-demand.