Report: Voters With Disabilities Still Face Discrimination At
Polls
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
October 24,
2006
NEW YORK, NEW YORK--Millions of American citizens with disabilities
and limited proficiency in the English language face unnecessary barriers to
voting, despite federal voting laws, a national non-partisan public policy and
research center has revealed.
In its "Challenges to Fair Elections" briefing paper released October
20, Demos said that many states and cities continue to violate ballot access
requirements under the federal Voting Rights Act and the 2002 Help America Vote
Act. The paper noted that people with disabilities and the U.S. Justice
Department have sued several states and local jurisdictions for failing to
provide accessible polling sites and voting systems that would allow voters
with certain disabilities to independently cast a secret ballot without having
to disclose their choices to another person.
"America cannot fulfill the promise of our democracy when many of our
citizens are denied the basic tools they need, and are guaranteed by law, to
access the polling place or understand the ballots they will cast on Election
Day," said Demos President Miles Rapoport in a press statement. "We need
strong, immediate enforcement of the laws that Congress has enacted to protect
these rights."
Related:
"Report -- Ballot Access for Language Minority Voters and
People with Disabilities" (Demos)
http://www.demos.org/pubs/CFE_access_101906.pdf
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Reproduced here under special arrangement
with Inclusion Daily Express international disability rights news service.
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