From ABC7 News, WLS-TV in Chicago:

Disability rights advocates in Chicago say organizations across the country are actively working to improve voter turnout among people with disabilities on election day. Approximately 40 million Americans with disabilities are eligible to vote.

Leaders of the Chicago group Access Living want voters to be aware of challenges facing people with disabilities, including:

• Lack of employment (an estimated seventy percent of people with disabilities of employment age do not have jobs);
• Lack of accessible housing; and
• Lack of funding for special education services.

Susan M. LoTempio, writing in the Buffalo News, says New Yorkers with disabilities wonder whether new governor David Paterson will do anything to help knock down the barriers that hinder their efforts to live satisfying, productive and rewarding lives.

They point out that the laws already on the books — including the Americans with Disabilities Act — haven’t solved the deep-rooted problems that keep people with disabilities out of school, out of work, out of their homes and out of the mainstream of everyday life.

Among the problems they cite:

• Lack of jobs, with unemployment rates reaching up to 70 percent;
• Lack of accessible and affordable housing;
• Lack of transportation services;
• Inadequate support for parents to help children with disabilities navigate public schools; and
• Lack of access to voting.

If the issues seem complicated to legislators, for people [with disabilities], they come down to this: An accessible home, an education, a job, reliable transportation, good health care and some respect.

Most New Yorkers — and their governors — take such things for granted. Citizens with disabilities do not. And they are hoping that David Paterson understands that.

By Pam Vetter in New Mobility magazine:

The ad features a simple yet radical idea: a typical day in the life of a wheelchair user. She fixes her makeup, wheels out to her car in the rain, gets in. The car won’t start. She gets the chair out of the car, wheels to the bus stop, gets on, rides, gets off at a school. The gate is locked. She ducks under, wheels up to a polling place and — casts her ballot.

Voiceover: Every day, millions of people choose to do the right thing. There’s an insurance company that does that, too. Responsibility. What’s your policy? Liberty Mutual Insurance.

The 60-second spot is part of a national ad campaign by the insurance giant, and features Teal Sherer, an actress who uses a wheelchair in real life (above). A positive message about civic responsibility is teamed with an authentic representation of a person with a disability, living a productive life in the community. No pity, no suffering — and no excuses not to vote.

“I think what Liberty Mutual is doing is groundbreaking,” says Sherer.

NY high court order allows use of machines criticized by disability rights advocates

From Newsday:

The New York Supreme Court this week required the state to allow the use of touch screen voting machines which disability and voting rights advocates say are not accessible to people with disabilities.

Barbara Bartoletti of the League of Women Voters said people in wheelchairs or with visual impairment would have difficulty reaching them or finding their paper ballots. The court was ruling on a lawsuit filed by Liberty Election Systems, the maker of a machine which had been barred by the state Board of Elections.

“This decision is a very bad one for the disability community in New York,” Bartoletti said.

The state of New York is years behind on multiple deadlines to comply with the Help America Vote Act, which is designed to make voting more accurate and more accessible to the disabled.

See earlier posts:

• Help sought for aging, disabled voters
• Judge warns New York to comply with voting law

From the Associated Press:

Nursing homes, notorious places for voter fraud, need greater guidance on how to help residents vote, senators and voter advocates say.

Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, said he and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., planned to ask the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to develop nationwide voting guidelines for state election officials and nursing home staffs.

… About one in five votes in the 2004 presidential election was cast by someone 65 or older. By 2040, it is anticipated about 40 percent of voters will be 65 or older. (more…)

From the Associated Press in Newsday, New York Times:

A federal judge is giving New York until Jan. 4 to develop a timeline for how it will comply with a federal election law to make voting more accurate and more accessible to the disabled.

U.S. District Court Judge Gary Sharpe spent much of a court hearing expressing his frustration with what he described as the state’s paralysis and failure to meet the requirements of the Help America Vote Act while every other state took action. He reminded officials several times he could jail members of the state Board of Elections for contempt of court.

“Why is it that New York thinks it can thumb its nose at the federal government?” Sharpe asked. (more…)

From Newsday (AP):

New York state has missed every federally imposed deadline for providing accessible voting machines, and won’t be in compliance for the upcoming February presidential primary.

One of the most pressing issues is providing accessible voting machines for the disabled. New York currently has at least one such machine in each county, but federal law requires one at each polling place.

“Continued foot dragging in New York state is, in our opinion, an outrage,” said Susan Dooha, executive director of nonprofit The Center for Independence of the Disabled in New York. “New York has not taken the civil rights of voters with disabilities seriously.”