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Election-Campaign Law

: Election Law - Equal Vote

Disability Access Issues

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One of the underexamined issues of election administration is the nexus between voting rights and disability rights. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires that polling places be accessible to people with disabilities, while the Help America Vote Act mandates that accessible voting technology be provided at every polling place. But these legal requirements aren't always fully honored.

There have been a handful of stories today on the experience of voters with disabilities, which number some 20 million according to a recent report by Lisa Schur and Douglas Kruse of Rutgers. The NY Times blog reports here on confusion regarding the ballot-marking machines being used in N.Y. City to meet HAVA's requirement of one accessible voting machine per polling place. The Arizona Center for Disability Law has reportedly filed a lawsuit regarding one county's decision not to count ballots cast on accessible voting equipment until Tuesday morning. See also this report and this one on reported accessibility problems in Indiana.

For a summary of the requirements of federal voting laws when it comes to people with disabilities, take a look at this this presentation which I put together a while back. DOJ's website has more information here.

Full post as published by Election Law - Equal Vote on November 04, 2008 (boomark / email).