Voting Rights Position Statement

Mission
The mission of the NCIL ADA/Civil Rights Voting Workgroup is to increase the participation of people with disabilities in the electoral process in order to maximize our ability to affect federal, state, and local political priorities. This will include educating/contacting political candidates to determine their positions on various disability issues.

Vision
We envision a future where a majority of people with disabilities vote regularly and because of this increased participation will have significant influence in the political legislative and public policy process.

Voting Position
NCIL supports equal access and the rights of people with disabilities. Congress and the Administration should ensure the enforcement and protection of the rights guaranteed under the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) and other applicable federal laws.

Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail
NCIL does not have a blanket policy either for or against Voter Verified Paper Audit Trails (VVPAT) or other means of independent vote verification. However, NCIL seeks to ensure that any and all measures instituted to provide enhanced security, accuracy and/or voter confidence must be developed and implemented in a manner that ensures immediate accessibility for people with disabilities. Such measures must not interfere with the current ability of voters with disabilities to cast private and independent ballots, as mandated by HAVA.

The disability community shares the interest of all Americans in ensuring that elections are fair, secure and accurate. If a paper audit trail or other means of independent vote verification is used in any jurisdiction, then the means of vote verification must be accessible to all individuals with disabilities at the same time as the requirement goes into effect for all voters. Accordingly, NCIL would oppose any paper audit trail or other means of independent vote verification requirement that does not meet this standard.

Voter Education
We are committed to ensuring that people with disabilities are educated on their right to vote and the full impact of being involved in the electoral process. This includes knowing their rights, how to register and cast a ballot, and how their everyday lives are affected by a group’s participation in, not just the outcome of, elections.

Voter Identification Creates Barriers to Voting
With the enactment of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) and its ongoing implementation, people with disabilities are gaining privacy by voting independently. HAVA takes important steps to tear down barriers to voting by requiring accessible polling places to meet the needs of all voters. The purchase and installation of newer, accessible voting machines will make it possible for a growing number of people with disabilities to exercise their right to vote and have their voices heard. It is important that we continue to move forward in election reform by removing barriers to voting and encouraging active participation in the political process. Requiring photo identification to vote will only reduce voter turn out by throwing up yet another barrier to voting.

Barriers to Voting for Persons with Disabilities
People with disabilities would be negatively impacted by photo identification requirements, more than other Americans because:

Only about one-third of people with disabilities are employed full- or part-time nationwide;
People with disabilities are twice as likely as the non-disabled population to live on a household income of $15,000 or less ;
Fees associated with obtaining birth certificates and forms of identification often required to obtain a photo ID can be cost prohibitive;
Americans living in poverty are least likely to own motor vehicles and have need of a driver’s license – the most common form of photo ID; people with disabilities are particularly unlikely to have a driver’s license, as they are disproportionately poor and may be physically unable to drive, depending on their disability, and;
In a number of cases, the person’s disability itself prevents people with disabilities from accessing the systems necessary to obtain an ID;
Additional voter costs, including transportation expenses, use of personal attendant services, and possible fees associated with acquiring a birth certificate or other forms of identification will provide an unknown impact.

Impact on the Voting Rights Act and Constitutional Protections
By making it more difficult for people with disabilities to exercise their right to vote and increasing the likelihood that registered voters will be denied their right to cast a ballot at their polling places, mandating identification violates state and federal constitutions, the 1965 Voting Rights Act, and the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Inadequate Response to Voter Fraud
Most photo identification requirements are being implemented as a response to counteract recent reports of voter fraud. The disability community fully supports implementing measures that would make it harder for people to commit fraud at any point in the voting process. However, it has yet to be clearly documented that the problem of voter fraud is occurring at polling places. In fact, research in several states clearly shows that voter fraud is not a polling place issue. An investigation by the League of Women Voters and Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio uncovered only four fraudulent votes in Ohio out of the millions of votes cast in the 2002 and 2004 elections . Additionally, a ten-year, nationwide analysis of voter fraud published in 2003 concluded that election fraud in all fifty states is uncommon and rarely influences the outcome of an election . The registration of imaginary and deceased voters in Missouri has been a well-publicized issue, and election reform targeting these forms of fraud is necessary. However, photo ID legislation attempts to reform a stage of the election process in which voter fraud is rare and fails to threaten the security of our elections.

Recommendations
In sum, we must engage in election reform to eliminate voter fraud where it threatens election security. At the same time, we must stay vigilant to comply with the Voting Rights Act, the Civil Rights Act, and HAVA to ensure increased access to voting for all Americans. Measures requiring the use of photo identification to vote have not proven to be an effective tool to fight voter fraud. Indeed, such a requirement will even erect barriers to voting for particular segments of the state’s citizenship, including people with disabilities.

National Organization on Disability. (June 24, 2004). National Organization on Disability/Harris Survey on People with Disabilities.

Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio & League of Women Voters. (June 14, 2005). Let the People Vote – A Joint Report on Election Reform Activities in Ohio.

L. Minnite & D. Callahan. (2003). Securing the Vote: An Analysis of Election Fraud. Demos: A Network for Ideas and Action.