Voting and the Disabled Community

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Voting and the Disabled Community

“We do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.”
– Thomas Jefferson

“Vote as if your life depends on it—because it does!”

-Justin Dart, leader in the campaign to pass the ADA

By Phil Prehn, Systems Change Advocate

New York State has made great strides in advancing the ability of people with disabilities to vote independently in elections. These improvements were a result of the hard work of people with disabilities and their organizations pushing the state to do better, through legislation, public pressure and even lawsuits. In Syracuse, ARISE’s Independent Living Council (ILC), our grassroots group of volunteers and staff, have had many meetings with the commissioners of the Onondaga County Board of Elections over the past decade. The result has been allowing ILC members to help train poll workers on how to better assist the disabled, arranging for people with disabilities to test potential accessible voting systems prior to their purchase and to work to improve accessibility at polling places.

There is still a long way to go to guarantee access to independent voting for all people with disabilities in our country—particularly for those people with disabilities who are homeless, under punitive guardianship agreements or still warehoused in nursing homes. However, New York State is a bright spot in the struggle to guarantee accessible voting.  It is incumbent upon all of us to take advantage of our opportunities to vote.  I often send out action alerts to staff and volunteers about legislation and governmental policy changes that would improve the ability of people with disabilities to live independent lives, contributing their talents to our communities. My alerts often urge you to contact politicians and government agency officials via e-mail. These messages have a much greater impact if the recipients know that they are coming from people who are educated on the issues and are registered voters—their constituents.

In the lead up to the big national election on November 5th, it is important to prepare yourself so you will be able to cast your vote easily and independently. The following information is from The Self-Advocacy Association of NYS (SANYS), who has a great “My Plan to Vote Checklist” that you can download at http://sanys.org/voting

  1. Are You Registered to Vote? The deadline to register to vote is October 26th.

To verify that you are registered to vote, you can look up online on the New York State Elections website https://voterlookup.elections.ny.gov  OR you can call your county’s Board of Elections directly. Onondaga County 315-435-8683. Madison County 315-366-2231. Oswego County 315-349-8351. Cayuga County 315-253-1285.

if you are registered—this site will show you where your Election Day poll site is located and what early voting sites are available to you.

If you are NOT registered: you can register online at https://www.elections.ny.gov or you can call your County’s Board of Elections directly for registration info.

  • How Will I Vote?
  1. Absentee Ballot: to request an absentee ballot online use https://absenteeballot.elections.ny.gov or call your county Board of Election Office
  • Vote in person at an early voting site. Early voting runs from October 26th through November 3rd. To find the closest early voting site to you and the hours they are available, call you local county Board of Elections office.
  • Did You Have Problems Voting?  You can contact: The Office of the New York State Attorney General (OAG) Election Protection Hotline can help answer your voting questions. Contact our Election Hotline at (866) 390-2992  The OAG Election Hotline is staffed with volunteers during the early voting period from 9am until 6pm and on Election Day from 6am to 9pm.

If you have concerns about the accessibility of the voting machines you used or the physical accessibility of your polling site, let ARISE know!  We can follow up with the local Boards of Election to get things changed. Contact our Systems Change Advocate Phil Prehn at pprehn@ariseinc.org or 315-671-4658