The Disability Voting Coalition announces a new campaign to increase voter registrations
of people with disabilities. It is the “We Count!” campaign.
According to the US Census, approximately 2 million
voting age Pennsylvanian’s have disabilities – more than 20% of potential voters.
We
Count!
However,
people with disabilities are less likely to be registered to vote when compared to our non-disabled peers. Voters
with disabilities could be one of the most powerful voting blocs in Pennsylvania. Our power in the voting
booth is diminished because so many of us are not registered to vote.
Congress passed the National Voter Registration Act in 1993 to make voter
registration more accessible -- with the hopes of reducing the disparities in registration and voting. The
National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) was designed to provide assistance to people with disabilities to register to vote.
Congress directed the following programs to offer voter registration to their consumers on a regular basis, and to
report the results to the federal government:
- all County MH / MR funded programs
- all paratransit programs
- all PA Centers for Independent Living
- all Student Disability Services Offices within the State System of Higher Education
-
all public
school districts
- all Area Agencies on Aging
Last
year (2007), Pennsylvania registered 638,434 voters. Since voting age Pennsylvanians with disabilities account for 20% of
the population, you would predict that 127,686 registrations would be voters with disabilities. In fact,
only 379 registrations came from disability agencies!
We
Count!
Why
are our numbers so bad?
-
Pennsylvanianeeds
to do a better job of training agencies about the requirements of the NVRA
- Some agencies don’t know that federal law requires that they serve as voter registration sites,
and the specific duties imposed by Congress.
- Some
agencies don’t know where to enter their agency code on the voter registration form.
- Some counties may not have been recording the information showing that registrations
came from agencies that serve people with disabilities.
We Count!
This campaign is not
a complaint – IT IS A CALL FOR ACTION!
Citizenship is an important part of being included in the community.
One of the primary rights of a citizen is to VOTE!
If ALL people with disabilities vote, we will have a significant role in choosing
who gets elected.
We Count!
What can disability agencies in your community do?
·
Ask them to take the “Count Us In Pledge.”
·
Ask them to schedule a training on NVRA obligations and
compliance with the Pennsylvania Department of State.
· Ask your county Department of Elections if they have procedures in place to identify when registrations
originate in disability service agencies.
We Count!
But only if we change the perception
that people with disabilities don’t vote!
Can we count you
in?
