Under the agreement, the voter will have to request an electronic ballot via email or phone, with specific information provided to confirm the voter’s identity. They will have to submit a vote-by-mail application, which is available electronically and can be signed electronically. The voter will then be allowed to submit the ballot via mail or email, from an email address provided to a state voting official. The voter will have to sign an affidavit electronically verifying that they are an eligible voter, that they will not vote elsewhere, and that by casting a ballot electronically they are waiving their right to cast a secret ballot.
” Before the September 1 state primary, the Disability Law Center sued Galvin on behalf of the Bay State Council of the Blind, the Boston Center for Independent Living, and six individual plaintiffs, arguing that no information about this accommodation had been made public. By the time the sides reached an agreement, voters had only three days to request an electronic ballot.
On October 2, the groups filed a second lawsuit in US District Court arguing the Galvin still had not established a sufficient voting system for people who want to vote remotely due to COVID-19 but cannot use a print ballot. “Remote voting options that allow voters to complete their ballots from the safety of home, like absentee voting and vote by mail, generally involve completion of a paper ballot, which is simply inaccessible to voters with print disabilities,” they wrote in their complaint.”
The national, non-partison Disability and Election Virtual Summit hosted by AAPD (Annual Association of People with Disabilities) on June 22 and 23 is now available online. Don’t miss DLC Executive Director, Marlene Sallo talk about Massachusetts REV UP in Day 2 Part 3 around the 40 minute mark!
Register for this free, virtual summit on June 22 and June 23.
WASHINGTON, DC – Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the disability community is mobilizing. The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) is proud to announce POWER the Disability Vote, a national, non-partisan Disability & Election Virtual Summit. On Monday & Tuesday, June 22 and 23 from noon to 3:45 pm ET on both days and will include panels, presentations, and a national call-to-action to mobilize disability voters and allies.
Disability groups across America are staring down the pandemic with a big question: given COVID-19’s impact on Americans with disabilities and growing numbers of voters who will acquire disabilities, will the Disability Vote be among the deciding factors in the 2020 Election?
YES – According to a 2018 Rutgers University study, 14.3 million people with disabilities voted in 2018, 49.3% of eligible voters with disabilities, compared with 40.8% in 2014. In 2020, over 35 million eligible voters will be people with disabilities, not counting those that may acquire a disability as a result of COVID-19. That number increases to at least 62.7 million when adding voters who have a household member with a disability.
“The surge in turnout among our increasingly visible, vocal, and active voting bloc is only one reason that we need to continue to build the power of the disability vote,” said AAPD President and CEO Maria Town. “We’re also thinking about how the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed significant gaps and weaknesses in public systems on which people with disabilities, among many others, rely. If elected officials, including the President, want to be elected, and expect our votes, they must address our issues.”
Last year, AAPD began organizing the Summit to galvanize a recent trend among Americans with disabilities: an 8.5% surge in voter turnout in 2018.
AAPD has organized these voters since 2016 through their REV UP (Register! Organize! Vote! Use your Power!) campaign. Currently, over 30 states have partnered with the REV UP network. With the participation of these state coalitions, plus hundreds of Americans with disabilities and the organizations that represent them, AAPD’s POWER Summit will push the Disability Vote forward as the deciding factor of the 2020 Elections.
For information on POWER The Disability Vote, visit https://www.aapd.com/advocacy/voting/revup-summit/. This event was originally scheduled for January 13, 2020 as Elected for Inclusion – the Presidential Forum on Disabilities Issues.
AAPD is a convener, connecter, and catalyst for change, increasing the political and economic power of people with disabilities. As one of the leading national cross-disability civil rights organizations, AAPD advocates for the full recognition of rights for the over 60 million Americans with disabilities. AAPD’s programs and initiatives have been effective in mobilizing the disability community through communications advocacy; cultivating and training new and emerging leaders with disabilities through leadership development programs; increasing the political participation of Americans with disabilities and elevating the power of the disability vote through the REV UP (Register! Educate! Vote! Use your Power!) Campaign; and advancing disability inclusion in the workplace through the Disability Equality Index (DEI) — the nation’s leading corporate benchmarking tool for disability equality and inclusion. To learn more about AAPD, visit www.aapd.com.
AAPD’s REV UP Campaign aims to increase the political participation of the disability community while also engaging candidates and the media on disability issues. AAPD works with state and national coalitions on effective, non-partisan campaigns to address the concerns of people with disabilities, eliminate barriers to voting, promote accessibility of voting; educate communities about issues and candidates; promote turnout of voters with disabilities across the country; and engage candidates and the media on disability issues.
From the Philadelphia Inquirer by Stephanie Lai, October 20, 2019
A study at Rutgers University shows that more people with disabilities are being elected to local, state and federal government with the greatest proportion at the local level. The Massachusetts disability community has great advocates in Massachusetts who should run for office!
2020 Presidential Questionnaire on Disability Policies
Washington, D.C. – The 2020 Presidential elections will have significant implications for 20 percent of the US population- people with disabilities. As we move towards election day, the American Association of People with Disabilities’ (AAPD)REV UP Campaign and the National Council on Independent Living (NCIL) have developed a Presidential Questionnaire on Disability Policies. Through their responses to this questionnaire candidates will share their views and positions on key disability policy priorities.
“There will be over 35 million eligible voters with disabilities in 2020. We encourage all the Presidential candidates to engage the Disability vote,” said Maria Town, President & CEO of AAPD. “Our organizations are committed to empowering our community and speaking out about critical issues with the candidates.”
The Presidential Questionnaire on Disability Policies has been sent to all the 2020 Presidential candidates. Each campaign has been asked to return the questionnaire by September 6th so AAPD/NCIL can share their responses to our community before the September Presidential debate. All other responses will be posted after the October debate on an ongoing basis.
“It is important for the candidates to stay informed on disability policies and engage in initiatives that empower our community,” said Kelly Buckland, Executive Director of NCIL. “We encourage voters to reach out to the Presidential candidates, including through social media, to share the Presidential questionnaire and request their responses.”
The Presidential Questionnaire is split into categories such as:
As part of the “Summer VOTEcation Series,” this last webinar will give you TEN strategies for better engaging and encouraging young people to the polls.
Join the webinar Thursday, September 12, 2pm-3pmET, 11am-Noon PTwhen staff from Opportunity Youth United and CIRCLE will be on hand to discuss how YOU can combat lower turnout rates for young folks.
Nonprofits are trusted messengers that can support young voters as they navigate complicated registration processes and dispel common misconceptions about eligibility and the voting process.
Democracy Diverted – Polling Place Closures and the Right to Vote – September 2019
This report from The Leadership Conference Education Fund details the creation by Congress of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and its Section 5 Amendment (See below). This law discouraged much of the racism previously associated with voting rights. In 2013, Section 5 was dismantled by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Shelby decision. Since Shelby, polling location closures have skyrocketed.
” Closing polling places has a cascading effect, leading to long lines at other polling places, transportation hurdles, denial of language assistance and other forms of in-person help, and mass confusion about where eligible voters may cast their ballot. For many people, and particularly for voters of color, older voters, rural voters, and voters with disabilities, these burdens make it harder — and sometimes impossible — to vote.”
” One of the more alarming trends we discovered is a widespread practice of blaming polling place closures on another civil rights law, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The leading closers of polling places from Mississippi, Georgia, and Louisiana used ADA compliance as their major pretext. In several cases, little to no effort was made to understand ADA compliance. Instead, election officials took advantage of the public’s lack of understanding about the law to grossly inflate the estimated costs of compliance for both publicly and privately owned polling places .”
Recommendation:
“…restore the Voting Rights Act, reactivate Section 5, and strengthen its other provisions that require elected officials to seek the input of communities of color and provide notice of any polling place change for any reason. “
In other words, your vote matters. Without the VRA, it is too easy for election officials to discriminate against specific types of voters. Talk to the candidates about the Voting Rights Act, Section 5 and how important it is for every single voter to be able to vote!
Section 5
Jurisdictions with a demonstrated record of racial discrimination in voting were required to submit all proposed voting changes to the U.S. Department of Justice or the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., for “preclearance” in advance of implementation. The jurisdictions were required to prove that the proposed voting change would not deny or adversely affect the right to vote on the basis of race, color, or an eligible voter’s membership in a language minority group.
During the upcoming presidential debates, the REV UP network would like
to further promote policies that the presidential candidates should
address. We would also like to see intentional discussion around
disability issues during the debates. We could use your help!
Please share questions and topics that you would like the Presidential Candidates to discuss during the upcoming debates. Please share your thoughts through this link before September 9th. AAPD will promote questions and topic areas to the debate moderators and via social media to amplify the Disability Vote.
Leading
up to the presidential debates, we encourage folks to amplify
#SayTheWord. #SayTheWord is a hashtag to encourage individuals
(including campaigns) to say the word disability. Please also use #REVUP
and #CripTheVote.
Finally,
during the presidential debate on September 12th, we encourage folks to
participate in the #CripTheVote twitter conversation.
Voter Turnout Surged Among People With Disabilities Last Year. Activists Want to Make Sure That Continues in 2020
Time Magazine
July 10, 2019 by Abigail Abrams
…” new data shows that politicians who ignore disabled Americans may be missing out on a growing group of voters whose support could be up for grabs in 2020 — and activists are hoping to take advantage of this momentum.” …
This article contains several links to important ongoing efforts to get the vote out and to improve the focus on disability issues with our candidates and elected officials, including REV Up and NCIL.
Voter turnout increase was documented in a pdf Rutgers Report from researchers at Rutgers University. “Voter turnout surged by 8.5 points in 2018 among citizens with disabilities relative to the 2014 midterm elections.”
AAPD also has a press release describing this positive information!
