From News10-TV in Sacramento (ABC affiliate):

The California Republican party is asking the secretary of state to investigate an organized voting campaign involving developmentally disabled adults in Tuolumne County.

As many as ten clients of the Thumbs Up! adult care center have already cast absentee ballots under the supervision of center director David Simerley, and nearly all of them were for Barack Obama.

“We all registered to vote and we all sat together as a group and went over our ballots and voted,” Simerley told News10.

Among those voting was Michael Rascon (above), 56, whose father described as having the mental capacity of a 5-year-old.

… California secretary of state Debra Bowen explained there is no prohibition against developmentally disabled adults voting without a court order declaring them incompetent.

Simerley defends his actions despite complaints from Sam Rascon and other parents of his adult clients. One parent actually tore up her son’s absentee ballot before it was mailed.

“Our mission is to help these people become valued, respected citizens,” he said. “And one of the most important things is to vote.”

Related stories from News10-TV:

• Parents of disabled voters angry over balloting
• Secretary of state mum on disabled voting probe

This entry was posted on Monday, November 3rd, 2008 at 10:11 pm and is filed under intellectual/developmental disabilities, voting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.