Barriers to Voting for Disabled Americans
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47611/jsrhs.v11i3.2911Keywords:
disability, voting, 2020 election, voting accessibility, accessibility, inaccessibility, disabled people, disabled voters, voter turnout, inequality, barriers to voting, voting inaccessibility, Americans with Disabilities Act, disabled Americans, mail in voting, vote by mail, COVID, coronavirus, pandemic, COVID-19, coronavirus pandemic, mail-in votingAbstract
Disabled Americans face many barriers when it comes to voting, which is reflected in their lower voter turnout. This article examines past barriers along with the changes in accessibility that occurred due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Physical barriers include inaccessibility at polling locations, such as a lack of ramps and audio-equipped voting machines. A lack of privacy for disabled voters also dissuades them from voting. Disabled people have also been psychologically discouraged from voting by both consistent inaccessibility and the lack of government attention to this inaccessibility. Further, disabled people who are considered high-risk for COVID-19 were less likely to vote in person due to concerns about contracting the virus. However, the widespread availability of mail-in ballots increased disabled voter turnout as compared to previous years. This did not close the turnout gap between disabled and abled voters, but did shrink it. In order to address the barriers faced by disabled people when it comes to voting, the existing literature recommends an expansion of mail in voting, increased accessibility at polling locations, and updated federal guidelines on accessibility.
Downloads
References or Bibliography
Belt, R. (2016, June). Contemporary Voting Rights Controversies Through the Lens of Disability. Stanford Law Review. Retrieved January 25, 2022, from http://www.stanfordlawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2016/06/7_-_Belt_-_68_St an._L._Rev.pdf
Elysium, R. (2019, April 13). How Person-First Language Isolates Disabled People. Medium. Retrieved March 13, 2022, from https://ryanthea.medium.com/how-person-first-language-isolates-disabled-people-61a681a4fac4
Igielnik, R. (2016, September 22). A Political Profile of Disabled Americans. Pew Research Center. Retrieved January 24, 2022, from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/09/22/a-political-profile-of-disabled-americ ans/
Ives-Rublee, M. and Root, D. (2021, November 7). Enhancing accessibility in U.S. elections. Center for American Progress. Retrieved February 13, 2022, from https://www.americanprogress.org/article/enhancing-accessibility-u-s-elections/
Johnson, A., & Powell, S. (2020, March-May). Disability and election administration in the United States: Barriers and improvements. Taylor & Francis. Retrieved January 25, 2022, from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01442872.2019.1694654?scroll=top& needAccess=true
Katz, S. (2021, August 25). The Era of Easier Voting for Disabled People is Over. The Atlantic. Retrieved February 13, 2022, from https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/08/people-disabilities-vote/619834/
Mosley, T., & Levine, E. (2020, October 28). Voters With Disabilities Face An Inaccessible System. Boston University Radio. Retrieved January 25, 2022, from https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2020/10/28/voting-disabilities-accessibility
Pendo, E. (2020, June 25). Blocked from the Ballot Box: People with Disabilities. American Bar Association. Retrieved January 25, 2022, from https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/vot ing-in-2020/blocked-from-the-ballot-box/
Schur, L. and Kruse, D. (2021, February 16). Disability and voting accessibility in the 2020 elections: Final Report on Survey Results Submitted to Election Assistance Commission. Election Assistance Commission. Retrieved January 24, 2022, from https://www.eac.gov/sites/default/files/voters/Disability_and_voting_accessibility_in_the _2020_elections_final_report_on_survey_results.pdf
Schur, L., & Kruse, D. (2021, September 14). Disability and Voter Turnout in the 2020 Elections. National Disability Rights Network. Retrieved January 24, 2022, from https://www.ndrn.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Rutgers-Disability-Vote-Summit-Slide s.pdf
Tang, O., Wong, K., Ganguli, R., Zahiri, K., Burns, N., Paracha, S., Kozel, G., Tang, K., & Schuur, J. (2021, December 22). Emergency absentee voting for hospitalized patients and voting during COVID-19: A 50-state study. The Western Journal of Emergency Medicine. Retrieved January 25, 2022, from https://westjem.com/articles/emergency-absentee-voting-for-hospitalized-patients-and-vo ting-during-covid-19-a-50-state-study-2.html
Voters with Disabilities: Observations on Polling Place Accessibility and Related Federal Guidance. U.S. Government Accountability Office. (2017, December 4). Retrieved January 25, 2022, from https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-18-4
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Copyright (c) 2022 Cole DuHaime; Moriah Cohen
![Creative Commons License](http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-sa/4.0/88x31.png)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Copyright holder(s) granted JSR a perpetual, non-exclusive license to distriute & display this article.