Voting Rights:

The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) was passed and signed by the President in October 2002. This law requires all polling places to be physically accessible and have at least one voting system that allows voters who are blind or have other disabilities to cast a secret, independent, and verifiable ballot. The law also allows voters who choose to have assistance the right to have the person of their choice helping them with voting. The law also allows for the use of a provisional ballot. These ballots are used whenever there is a dispute at the polls on Election Day. The dispute can now be settled at least temporarily by having the person vote with a provisional ballot. There are other parts of the law that require training for poll workers in all aspects of voting including disability issues. Another major part of the law is that all states are now required to establish a voter registration list for all registered voters in the state. Most of the provisions of this law will go into effect on January 1, 2006.

There continue to be concerns raised at both the federal and state levels about fraud in the election process. To try to address those concerns legislatures have offered a number of bills, including those that would require photo identification in order to vote.

In addition, there has been a lot of discussion about the accuracy and security of electronic voting equipment. This equipment has been developed to assist people with disabilities in the voting process, however when the non-disabled public has used this equipment, controversy has centered on its reliability.

To read more about these issues and subject matter, please explore the links to the national organizations listed below.

Organization(s) that follow this issue:

• American Association of People with Disabilities- Project Vote
  
  
• National Organization on Disability
  
  
• The Arc of the US - Legislative Updates
  
  
• Disability E-Mail Networks