On September 27th, 2016, National Voter Registration Day, The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, the National Disability Rights Network, the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, and Schulte, Roth, and Zabel law firm released a guide regarding individuals with mental disabilities and their voting rights. The guide, entitled “VOTE. It’s Your Right: A Guide to the Voting Rights of People with Mental Disabilities” provides information on each state’s laws that affect people with mental disabilities. Additionally, it provides individuals with the tools they need to ensure they are able to cast a vote on election day. To obtain an accessible copy of the guide, e-mail [email protected].
In addition, The Ruderman Family Foundation released The Ruderman White Paper on Voting Accessibility for People with Disabilities in September of 2016. PDF and text-only versions of the paper are available at the link above. In the paper, authors Norman Ornstein and Kristina Kopic not only identify the obstacles most commonly faced by individuals with disabilities when voting, but they also provide potential solutions to eliminate those obstacles. For more information about The Ruderman Family Foundation, visit www.rudermanfoundation.org.
