Inclusive Federal Election Reform

March 15, 2001

National Council on Disability

1331 F Street, NW, Suite 1050

Washington, DC 20004-1107

202-272-2004 Voice

202-272-2074 TTY

202-272-2022 Fax

One of the fundamental rights guaranteed to Americans is the right of voting through a secret ballot.

However, this right is often denied to Americans with disabilities and other disenfranchised groups, such

as senior citizens, people from diverse cultures, and those who have low incomes. Statistics1

 show that

for 35 million voting-aged citizens with disabilities:

 14 million people of voting age who have a disability are unregistered voters

 People with disabilities vote at a rate 11 percent lower than the general population

 81 percent of voters who are blind or have visual impairments rely on others to mark their ballots

 An estimated 20,000 of the nation’s 170,000 polling places are inaccessible to voters who use

wheelchairs2

 1,231 of the 1,681 (73%) polling places in Philadelphia were physically inaccessible to voters with

disabilities

These statistics highlight the need to improve voting procedures and systems. President George W.

Bush’s New Freedom Initiative contains proposals for improving access to polling places and ballot

secrecy. Many proposals to reform the electoral process are currently before the 107th Congress. Voting

reform will certainly be considered and likely enacted in time to affect the 2002 elections. It is imperative

that any voting reform law also provides full access for voters with disabilities, and allows for their

private and independent voting.

The major issues for voters with disabilities range from opportunity for voter registration and

implementation of existing laws to the review of policies, procedures, and practices such as the

availability and dissemination of culturally sensitive information, and universal design. In its 1999

Progress Report, the National Council on Disability (NCD) recognized the critical need for election

reform and reiterated “its challenge to the President and Congress to enact legislation ... [that] would

include the recognition of the right of all individuals to vote independently, guaranteed accessibility to all

stages of the electoral process (from voter registration to election-day practices), and meaningful technical

assistance and enforcement mechanisms to ensure the right to vote.” NCD has also noted that “many

election officials are considering moving to a system of voting that would enable people to vote by

computer or through other remote technologies.” Although the existing laws for voting have paved the

way for more Americans to vote, they neither include enforcement components nor address in a

comprehensive way the use of current technology, including universal design, to promote full

participation by all citizens. NCD recommended that these new systems be made accessible to all people

with disabilities (NCD’s 1997 Progress Report). In its 1999 report, Implementation of the National Voter

Registration Act by State Vocational Rehabilitation Agencies, NCD reported that 75 percent of people

with disabilities who received services from state vocational rehabilitation agencies were never asked to
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register to vote as the law requires. A 2000 Harris poll indicates that 42 percent of this group still was not

offered the opportunity to register.

NCD’s report, Lift Every Voice: Modernizing Disability Policies and Programs to Serve a Diverse Nation

(December 1999), included accounts of unequal opportunity for citizens from diverse racial and ethnic

groups to access and participate in various areas of society, including voting. The National Council of La

Raza has raised accessibility issues related to language needs and the voting process. The National

Association for the Advancement of Colored People has publicized findings of voter disenfranchisement

and allegations of discrimination. The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights gave recent testimony

before Congress that included the disenfranchisement of citizens, including people with disabilities.

Although a Harris poll reported an increase in the number of people with disabilities voting in the recent

Presidential election, according to the National Organization on Disability, if people with disabilities

voted at the same rate as the general population, there would have been 3.5 million more votes cast in

November 2000. The overall impact of unmet accessibility needs of people with identified disabilities,

and findings on other citizens with conditions such as those related to the aging process have not yet been

evaluated.

To effectively address the broad range of issues related to voting accessibility and to develop strategic

actions at the national level, NCD makes the following four key recommendations drawn from those

offered in its past reports:

1. The President and Congress must enact federal legislation that incorporates the use of modern

technological concepts and systems capable of ensuring full participation by all citizens. Existing

conditions, needs, and strategies to remove barriers must be identified and included in voting

reform legislation with provisions that recognize and support the right of all individuals to vote

independently. In particular, any voting reform legislation should: (a) address voting access for

people with vision, hearing, cognitive, physical, language, and technology needs; (b) set uniform

federal guidelines and criteria for the receipt and use of federal funds, including requiring the

purchase of accessible systems only— which would parallel restrictions imposed on the use of

federal funds by the Rehabilitation Act; and (c) require accountability processes for implementing

the guidelines.

2. The President and Congress must address complex issues and concerns surrounding existing

federal legislation and effective ways to improve those laws through amendments or regulatory

action. It is imperative, however, that current rights and protections are maintained, rather than

diminished. NCD reiterates its recommendation to amend the 1984 Voting Accessibility for the

Elderly and Handicapped Act to include guaranteed accessibility to all stages of the electoral

process (from voter registration to election-day practices), and meaningful technical assistance and

enforcement mechanisms to ensure the right to vote.

3. NCD encourages bipartisan national, state, and local voter registration and get-out-the-vote

initiatives for people with disabilities and other disenfranchised Americans. Any comprehensive

federal voting reform legislation must incorporate basic provisions for culturally sensitive,

ongoing training and education of public officials, employees, and the general public about all

aspects of voting. It is also imperative that public service providers, poll workers, election
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officials, and ordinary citizens are provided concrete opportunities to increase their awareness of

applicable laws and effective practices.

4. The President and Congress must contact key citizens from disenfranchised groups and include

them on any commission or similarly named body to investigate the status of the full range of

voting accessibility issues in America. Any dialogue on voting reform issues should include

cross-disability and cross-cultural representation of these stakeholders.

NCD urges our nation’s leaders to respond in a timely manner to these recommendations in order to

ensure full participation in democratic processes by all of our citizens. Our society at-large will be the

ultimate beneficiary.

# # #

The National Council on Disability (NCD) is an independent federal agency making recommendations to

the President and Congress on issues affecting 54 million Americans with disabilities. NCD's overall

purpose is to promote policies, programs, practices, and procedures that guarantee equal opportunity for

all individuals with disabilities, regardless of the nature of severity of the disability; and to empower

individuals with disabilities to achieve economic self-sufficiency, independent living, and inclusion and

integration into all aspects of society.

 

1

 Data extracted from material compiled by the National Organization on Disability and Louis Harris Poll/Harris Interactive

2

 Paralyzed Veterans Association testimony 03-07-01, based on 1999 Report of the National Voter Independence Project