EAC - Voluntary Voting System Guidelines

Name : | Janna Starr, Bob Herman, Mark Reichert
Organization : | Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities
Post Date : | 9/30/2005
Section Comments
Section : | 2.2.7
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Comment : | 1.An element that needs to be included as the first step in “access to the voting process” is accessible voter registration. There are 20.9 million voting aged citizens with disabilities who are not registered to vote, approximately 56% of the total disability population. This figure comes from the examination of 740,000 public voting records in ten states, prior to the November 2004 election. Despite the passage of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) in 1993, there remains a large voter registration gap between people with disabilities and the general population – a barrier here prohibits further participation in the electoral process. As you may be aware, many people with disabilities who are eligible to vote do not drive and consequently do not have a need to visit the state division of motor vehicles (DMV) as highlighted by the NVRA. Intending to eliminate the voter registration gap, the NVRA also requires that states shall designate disability and social service agencies to offer voter registration, application collection, and to send the voter registrations to the state registrar’s office. Unfortunately, disability and social service agency participation in NVRA mandates has been spotty at best. Under Motor Voter, states are given the leeway to identify disability and social service agencies which shall provide voter registration, particularly if they receive federal funding. Any states which have not identified agency participation so must do so immediately, and the Rights Task Force recommends that all states shall undertake regular compliance reviews to ensure that people with disabilities have full access to the registration process.