Our vision statement: Disability Rights California will change the system so it values diversity, culture and each individual

Voting rights project goes full speed ahead toward elections

Funded through the Help America Vote Act of 2002, Disability Rights California worked hard over the last year to ready voters with disabilities to take full part in the 2008 June primary and November election. Activities ranged from testing new voting equipment, to providing voting rights training to diverse groups, to producing publications to help voters living in institutions.

Highlights were:

  • New equipment Reviewed included 1) the Inkavote Plus, a system that was found to provide more access for people with disabilities than paper balloting through its combination of manual inkblot cards, audio voting component and keyboard; 2) the AVC-Edge made by Sequoia that had an adjustable touch screen benefiting voters with limited mobility, and a voice feature with a keypad of “prompter keys,” such as help, select or next; and 3) the Auto-Mark system which had some commendable features to accommodate various disabilities, but was problematic in terms of voting with privacy.
  • Training on voting rights was provided to Ombudspeople in Alameda County, covering how to get people in institutions registered, polling places in institutions and emergency ballots; to Native American Communities in California to the greater San Jose Vietnamese community via radio; to two groups of people with developmental disabilities in Tulare County day programs; and to homeless people attending a program at Sacramento’s Loaves and Fishes.
  • Staff provided commentary to Secretary of State Deborah Bowen, on her revised Help America Vote state plan.
  • In May a press release was distributed statewide, promoting the Voters Hotline operated in collaboration with Election Protection in June during the primary, and generating media coverage in both Northern and Southern California; and similarly, substantial information was distributed about our Hotline for the November election.
  • Training on getting out the vote was provided to clients and staff of four Central and Southern California Independent Living Centers.
  • Overall, 700 individuals obtained information through 69 trainings about voting rights and civic participation, plus one radio program with an audience of approximately 65,000.

Throughout the year, news stories about projects including voters with disabilities and technical information about voting equipment and polling accessibility were featured in English and Spanish on our websites.

Voter rights trainings by advocates

Numerous trainings on voting rights were carried out in 2008 by the Disability Rights California units composed of self-advocates with mental health disabilities (PSA) and self advocates with development disabilities (DDPSA). Highlights were:

  • The PSA unit held 15 trainings and outreaches concerning voting rights for people with mental disabilities. Held at 13 different sites, one of the trainings resulted in at least 11 registrations to vote by group members and another, in Victorville, resulting in 21 registrations by group members. In addition, a dozen self-advocacy Group members were trained, certified and assigned as poll workers in the 2008 elections;
  • Many of the 80 trainings and outreaches conducted by DDPSA in 2008 included information on voting and participation in civic affairs. A popular topic was how to register to vote while living in an institution, intermediate care facility, nursing home or other congregate living arrangement;
  • Although the law is clear that just like anyone else, all people with disabilities can vote unless a court has specifically found them unable to do so, there seems to be some confusion, even among parents, about whether adults with developmental disabilities can vote. For example, DDPSA gave voting rights training to participants in an adult day program, Thumbs Up, and as a result, around 10 chose to vote by absentee ballot. Later a parent and some party officials complained that the day program participants would not understand the process well enough to vote. The story made the evening news in northern California; and
  • DDPSA also participated in a day-long presentation at the University of California on “voting rights in the disability community,” organized for a contingent of disability advocates and governmental officials from Mexico.

Excerpted from our 2008 Annual Report