NYAPRS Note: The National Council on Disability offered recommendations last year to the voting rights of persons with disabilities, many of which the Department of Justice adopted. Join the NY Disability Vote Network here to learn more about issues facing persons with disability in electoral representation, and encourage members of your community to be recognized as a voting demographic with an important voice.
NCD Commends the United States Department of Justice for New Technical Assistance Guidance for Voters with Disabilities
NCD Press Release; 10/16/2014
On Tuesday, September 30, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) published a new technical assistance publication about federal laws that protect the rights of voters with disabilities. The publication titled, “The Americans with Disabilities Act & Other Federal Laws Protecting the Rights of Voters with Disabilities,” provides guidance about how the federal disability rights laws apply to the election process, from registration to voting and discusses the need for policies, procedures, and programs to be in place to ensure that voters with disabilities are not discriminated against or illegally excluded from voting.
The National Council on Disability, an independent federal agency that recommends disability policy to the President, Congress and other federal agencies applauded publication of the technical assistance document and welcomed the adoption of recommendations that NCD made in its own report on voting access, The Experience of Voters with Disabilities in the 2012 Election Cycle, which was published in October 2013.
Local governments’ obligations under the ADA to ensure polling places are physically accessible to voters with mobility disabilities, as well as their obligation to provide effective communication with voters who have vision and hearing disabilities are also addressed. Laws covered in the DOJ publication include the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Voting Rights Act, the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act.
“Voters with disabilities must be able to use their local polling place like everyone else and to vote privately and independently alongside their neighbors, friends and peers,” said NCD member Clyde Terry. “If properly utilized and followed, the DOJ’s guidance will go a long way in ensuring that the concerns raised by voters with disabilities in previous elections are being addressed. NCD applauds the DOJ for taking our recommendations seriously and commends the Justice Department’s efforts to extend not only the rights but also the means to vote to every American – including people with disabilities.”
The DOJ’s “Americans with Disabilities Act & Other Federal Laws Protecting the Rights of Voters with Disabilities” publication may be found online at http://www.ada.gov/ada_voting/ada_voting_ta.pdf
NCD’s 2013 publication, Experience of Voters with Disabilities in the 2012 Election Cycle, which makes many of the recommendations furthered by the DOJ in their report can be found online at:
http://www.ncd.gov/publications/2013/10242013/