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U.S. laws help people with disabilities vote [1]
['Lenore T. Adkins']
Date: 2020-07-20 12:16:00+00:00
When Americans choose their representatives, polling places nationwide accommodate voters with disabilities, thanks to the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990.
“Whoever is doing the election [has] the responsibility to ensure that their voting places are accessible to voters with disabilities,” says John Wodatch, who was chief of the U.S. Department of Justice’s disability rights section before retiring in 2011.
The ADA paved the way for the Help America Vote Act of 2002, which requires jurisdictions conducting elections to provide each voting precinct with at least one machine that blind and visually impaired voters can operate independently and privately. The machine must also be positioned appropriately. And, under the historic Voting Rights Act of 1965, staff must be on hand to escort voters with disabilities to the machine and help them use it if they request assistance.
Before that 2002 law, Wodatch notes, the ADA had already required poll workers to give instructions to voters with hearing impairments. ADA provisions also require poll workers to help voters with developmental disabilities when needed, even if that means helping them mark a paper ballot, Wodatch says.
The height of the voting machine or ballot reader must be at an accessible level for voters who use wheelchairs.
When Eboni Freeman voted for the first time in 2015, she remembers a “very kind individual” who was working at the polling station asking if she needed assistance. Freeman has fibromyalgia and systemic lupus erythematosus, which cause fatigue. While she appreciated the assistance, she decided to go it alone.
“Because of my disability, I did take a little longer to make sure that I followed every step correctly,” Freeman says.
Accessibility boosts turnout
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