Every Vote Counts – How Towns Implement Disability Rights At Elections

This election has 65 percent Cape Codders headed for the polls, but did you know you have the right to bring someone to assist you at the voting place, or ask a poll worker for accommodations? In an aging population anyone could find themselves in a situation where they need to exercise their accessible voting rights. LCTV has taken a look at what they are and how they are implemented.

What Are Accessible Voting Rights?

1 November 2024 – CAPE COD, MA – Just like 190,000 fellow Cape Codders, Patrick Phipps is heading to the polls this November to exercise his fundamental right to vote. "Voting means to me, it's the the civic imperative, right? It's one chance where we civilly get to do our duty to use our voice," says Patrick who is a disability rights advocate at Cape Organization for Rights of the Disabled. On Cape Cod more than 35 percent are over 65 years of age, and 19,000 people have a disability. In Harwich accessible voting rights are implemented to ensure that all 12,000 registered town voters are able to choose their preferred method of voting, whether it is electronically, early in person or on election day. Patrick, who uses a wheelchair, is at Town Hall to vote early. "They had several tables made available to me and I could pick and choose which spot I could vote at," says Patrick. "There was sufficient privacy. I felt good about it."

What Are Voting Rights Laws?

Several regulations dictate the precincts' responsibilities in accommodating all voters. The Americans with Disabilities Act and the Help America Vote Act, as well as the Code Of Massachusetts Regulations form the base for  accessibility audits performed at polling places by the Disability Law Center, the Protection and Advocacy Agency for the state of Massachusetts. "All of these laws really require that people with disabilities have the same access to voting, that they're given a similar way to vote, that their ballots don't look totally different and that they can vote in the method that they choose," explains Brianna Zimmerman, Voting Rights Advocate at DLC.

Who Is Not Allowed To Vote?

Zimmerman says there is a lot of misconceptions around who is allowed to vote. People in state facilities, psychiatric hospitals, nursing homes, prison or under guardianship can vote as long as they're not serving time for a felony or have had to judge expressively bar them from voting. "There's a lot of misconceptions around like you have to have a certain literacy le or you have to be proven to be mentally competent, and that's just not the case," says Zimmerman.

What Rights Do I Have?

In the 2016 election the DLC and CORD audited 10 voting places on Cape Cod. Some of the legal requirements they look at are accessible parking, accessible voting booths, providing privacy, sample ballots displayed at different heights. Every voter has the right to bring someone to a system or ask election staff who are required to have had appropriate training. Every town is also required to have at least one AutoMark machine and to test them prior to every election.

DLC has found very few Massachusetts election sites to be fully compliant with accessible voting rights. "Some AutoMark machines work really well. Sometimes they're not even set up, which is, I would say, a really big issue because if you're someone that relies on an AutoMark to vote privately and independently, and there is no option for you to use an AutoMark, that creates a privacy issue," says Zimmerman. "If you're allowing a poll worker to help you mark your ballot, that's not necessarily your first choice."

Why Are Disability Rights Important?

Patrick Phipps says the level of accessibility at Harwich Town Hall is fair. "This level of accessibility is important because many people, whether they're disabled or not, but primarily people with disabilities, some of them might not be able to exit their home. So it's important to give them a time and a space where they can make their voices heard," says Patrick. "This is all about putting people at the table, especially people with disabilities." At the DLC Brianna Zimmerman contemplates on why some towns and cities still are not fully accessible, almost 35 years after the implementation of the disability rights law ADA. "Sometimes I think it requires some changing of attitudes and also some education around what can we do to make our polling places accessible and why should we care," she says. "Which really all of us should care regardless of whether there is someone in your community with disabilities or not. We have an aging population, we could all become disabled at any point in our life."