Disabled and Elderly Voters Face New Hurdles at Polls
Sami McGinnis remembers walking into a polling place
and casting her vote for the first time.
“It was a wonderful feeling to have that freedom,” she
said.
McGinnis, 67, whose vision is impaired, gave up that
freedom eight years ago after her husband died. That’s
when she first voted by absentee ballot. Having no
family near her Mesa, Ariz., residence, she found it
difficult arranging transportation — especially on
Election Day.
She wishes it were possible for her to physically vote
inside a polling place because she questions whether
her absentee ballot is counted.
“It’s better than nothing,” she said, “but live my
experience and tell me it’s better than nothing. It’s
not the same.”
One in nine voting-age Americans is disabled, according
to Census data. Of the 17 percent of voting-age
Americans who are 65 years or older, at least 36
percent are disabled.
At a time when 37 states have considered photo ID
legislation, some disabled and elderly Americans may
face difficulty voting this November because they often
don’t have a valid driver’s license. The result is that
voter turnout among these groups likely will decrease,
according to Rutgers University research.
“Voting is a big deal. It’s a big highlight of their
years,” said Daniel Kohrman, a senior attorney for AARP
in Washington, D.C.
“It’s really unfortunate, and indeed tragic, that this
emphasis on restricting participation is presented in
so many states,” Kohrman added.
Eighteen percent of Americans over 65 do not have a
photo ID, according to the Brennan Center for Justice
at New York University, a public policy group that
opposed many of the voting rule changes nationally. The
Census estimates at least 7 million seniors don’t have
driver’s licenses.
Many people with disabilities also don’t have a
driver’s license. Beyond physical disabilities, persons
can have learning disabilities — dyslexia for example —
or poor hand-eye coordination.
“They’ve stopped driving because of vision or reflex
issues. They, for reasons of various disability issues,
have moved in with family who drive them around, or
they’ve moved into an assisted living center,” said Jim
Dickson, leader of the Disability Vote Project. The
nonpartisan project of the Washington, D.C.-based
American Association of People with Disabilities,
encourages political participation by those with
disabilities.
AARP has opposed voter ID legislation in Missouri,
Michigan, Indiana and Minnesota because the
organization says “states should not impose
unreasonable identification requirements that
discourage or prevent citizens from voting.”
Voter ID requirements aren’t the only problem disabled
and elderly people may face at the polls. People in
these groups often have trouble accessing traditional
polling places.
All polls are supposed to comply with the Americans
with Disabilities Act of 1990. Among other things, the
sweeping law says that people with disabilities shall
not face discrimination at the polls. But, just under
one-third of polling places are 100 percent barrier
free, according to a 2009 Government Accountability
Office study of the 2008 election.
Many states skirt the accessibility to polls by
allowing absentee voting, mail voting or voting from
curbsides, where a poll worker comes to a disabled
person’s car with a ballot.
All states allow absentee and mail voting, but not all
— Tennessee, for example — allow curbside voting.
“People with disabilities should have the same options
as everyone else has. Voting in a polling places is an
important and symbolic ritual,” said Lisa Schur, a
Rutgers University associate professor who researches
disabilities issues in employment and the ADA impact on
public policy.
Leaving the disabled with only alternative voting
methods “sends a clear message that people with
disabilities are not fully welcome in the political
sphere,” she said.
The convenience of absentee voting is appealing to
Karin Kellas of Glendale, Ariz. She suffered a spinal
cord injury as a result of a rollover car accident in
1966. In the ’90s, her legs were amputated above the
knee.
“I’ve heard a lot of (disabled) people feel their voice
doesn’t count,” she said. “We need to make our opinions
known and vote because that’s how we make any kind of
change.”
Kellas votes absentee so she can skip the lines and
volunteer to work the polls. If she wanted to vote in a
traditional polling place, she’d find a way to get
there as she did in the past.
She wants voting to be “as easy and accessible for
able-bodied people as it is for disabled people.”
“I’m the exception to the rule because I don’t take no
for an answer,” Kellas said. “There has to be a way I
can vote.”
Inaccessible polling places can have “psychological
consequences that say, ‘I don’t really want you here,’”
Schur said.
“I see absentee voting and voting by mail as a
convenience and it can help a lot of people with
disabilities,” she said, “but I don’t see it as a
substitute as making polling places accessible.”
Voter turnout among disabled people is a clear
reflection of that, according to a Rutgers University
study from the 2008 election.
The study showed turnout among voters who have
disabilities was about 7 percentage points lower than
those without disabilities.
And that’s not because disabled people are less
interested in voting, said Douglas Kruse, a Rutgers
University professor and director of the doctoral
program in industrial relations and human resources. He
and Schur co-authored the study.
Kruse, who uses a wheelchair, has a doctorate in
economics from Harvard University. His research has
found that disabled persons are less likely to be
recruited to vote or participate in political
activities.
“You’re not expected to participate,” he said, adding
that such an attitude “probably reflects a lot of the
polling place difficulties and the message that is sent
by a polling place.”
It’s important for persons with disabilities to vote
because political and social issues deeply affect them,
McGinnis said.
“We take the time to get to know the issues because we
live them,” she said.
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