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Elections and Disability

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Secretary's Select Task Force on Voting Accessibility (Florida, United States; September, 2001) - minutes from a meeting by this task force regarding the accessibility of polling places for people with disabilities. Provides brief synopsis on laws in Florida regarding Disabilities: The Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 1984 Voter Accessibilities for the Elderly and Handicapped Act, 1992 Final Report on Compliance, 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act. The final report from the task force is no longer available online.
Guide to Voting Equipment Usability and Accessibility for People with Disabilities (California, United States; 2003) - addresses the issue of providing information and tools to support increased access to voting systems for people with disabilities in California. The link offers a report on voting participation by people with disabilities and barrier to the voting process, also provides links for several federal and state election laws that discuss increasing the participation of people with disabilities.
Know your Voting Rights (California, United States; 2003) - the California Secretary of State's web page on voting with disability. It gives information on how to register online to vote, and how to find out if your polling place is handicap accessible. From this page you can link to a sample checklist to for polling place accessibility.
Polling Place Accessibility Checklist for Primary and General Elections (California, United States; 2003) - a PDF sample of a checklist of polling places in California to determine if they are handicap accessible.
Disability World (International) - a web-based magazine dealing with disabilities. There is a section on governance which could be beneficial for elections access and information. The above entry is a link off this homepage, which deals with disability issues.
Disability World - Citizens with Disabilities Observe Ghana's National Elections (Ghana) - Seventy-seven Ghanaian citizens with disabilities were trained and recruited as fully credentialed election observers during the nation's Presidential and Parliamentary elections of December 7, 2000. This first-of-its-kind program is a part of a larger project of the International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES) to promote the electoral enfranchisement of people with disabilities worldwide. The governments of Sweden and Finland provided funds for this program.
DAWN Voting and Election Reform (Wisconsin, United States) - DAWN is an acronym for the Disability Advocates Wisconsin Network. Dawn is a statewide grassroots cross-disability network of people who care about disability issues. This particular link leads to the initiatives section of the website and focuses specifically on election reform. There are also links for campaign finance reform and other political issues.
Voting: A Constitutional Right for all Citizens (Vermont, United States; 1999) - a guidebook for making elections accessible to people with disabilities. The cover features a picture of two voters in separate booths one standing, and one in a wheelchair. The guidebook was compiled in 1999 by the National Organization on Disability and updated by the National Task Force on Accessible Elections.
Councils of Canadians with Disabilities (Canada; 2000) - details the findings of the council of Canadians with disabilities. The link gives specific information on the guides for accessibility. The material is available in both English and French.
Promoting the Inclusion of People with Disabilities in Civil Registration and Municipal Elections in Kosovo (Kosovo; September, 2000) - An IFES funded project, the link is for a briefing paper completed by IFES on political access for people with disabilities. According to Handikos, a local Organization of Kosovars with disabilities, there are approximately 40,000 people with disabilities in Kosovo. This number is based on the very conservative estimate that 3 to 5 percent of the entire population is somehow disabled. Handikos has surveyed and identified approximately 16,000 people with disabilities. Handikos has been recognized by the international development community in Kosovo as a reliable partner, and has received direct funding and support from such entities as Handicap International and the Foreign Ministry of Finland
Voter Information - Voters with Disabilities (California, United States; 2002) - good resource for sample material. There are links for audio information on ballots, as well as a touch screen that can be changed by someone with a handicap, and equipment for people with special needs.
Accessibility for all Voters - Polling Place Accessibility (Vermont, United States; October 2004) - information about how to make a polling place more accessible, including a copy of a polling place accessibility survey from 2001. Also contains a list of polling places in Vermont which are accessible for handicapped voters.
Electoral Insight, published by Elections Canada, has a special issue (Vol. 6 No.1 April 2004) on Persons with Disabilities and Elections (PDF file)

Links to Disability Organizations

Too many election laws are written by people who assume they know what is best for voters with disabilities. All too often, this results in election law provisions which perpetuate stereotypes about disability, and treat disabled voters as second class citizens.

To put an end to these shortcomings, election management bodies are encouraged to consult regularly and openly with organizations of people with disabilities, and to seek their input in the design of outreach programs, in the design of ballots, and in the establishment of criteria to select polling stations.

The following global disability organizations have affiliates in most nations:

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Elections and Disability