the advocacy monitor

Independent Living News & Policy from the National Council on Independent Living

Did You Ever Have Trouble Voting?

Imagine being 30 years old and a person with a disability and you go to your polling place. You tell the poll worker your name and the poll worker responds to you by saying “you need to take a reading test before you can vote.” Or you’re a person that uses a wheelchair and you go to your polling place and there are two stairs going into the building.

Unfortunately, in 2016 these are still true stories for people with disabilities! Have you ever had any issues? Well the Election Assistance Commission needs to hear from you. The Voting Rights Subcommittee repeatedly hears of problems that people with disabilities are having trying to cast a private and unassisted ballot!

So here is the opportunity to try to change what is going on. The Election Assistance Commission (EAC) will be holding a public hearing on voting accessibility on April 27. If you have had a negative experience while casting your ballot, you have the opportunity to inform the EAC about the difficulties you encountered. If you would like to share your experience with the EAC, please send an email to [email protected] identifying the polling place where you experienced the issue and describing the problem you had while trying to cast your vote.