Improve Voting Access for Texans with Disabilities

16% of voting age Texans have a disability. That is 325,000 people.

Goal: All eligible voters in Texas should be able to fully participate in the electoral process; they should be able to register to vote, access polling places, and cast their votes privately and independently.

Problem: Despite progress in the area of physical accessibility of polling places, many people with disabilities still face substantial obstacles in registering to vote and applying for absentee ballots in Texas. Additionally, some propose rolling back accessibility standards in small counties and requiring more onerous ID requirements that would suppress voting by Texans with disabilities.

Specific Recommendations for Change:

• Registration: Improve voter registration system by synchronizing the statewide voter registration database with all Health and Human Services agencies.
• Access: Ensure that accessibility availability of and accessible voting machines at each polling place, including those in small counties and jurisdictions.
• Absentee ballots: Provide for permanent absentee ballot status for those who cannot vote in person. Allow an individual to assist more than one voter with a disability by witnessing their application for an absentee, mail-in ballot without threat of criminal penalty. Protect the right of voters with disabilities to choose a person to assist them in absentee voting.
• Provisional ballots: Expand use of provisional ballots to voters in the wrong precinct.
• Voter ID: Oppose more onerous voter ID requirements that would suppress voting by Texans with disabilities.

Background: Although the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002 has greatly increased access to voting for people with disabilities in federal elections, there are still great obstacles in the following areas:

• Registration. While state agencies are obligated to assist eligible individuals with disabilities register to vote. Still, many who receive state services are not registered or are wrongfully denied because the state has not synchronized its statewide voter database with all Health and Human Services agencies.
• Access to polling places and a private and independent ballot. Polling places have made great progress in removing physical barriers to access. Additionally, requirements that polling places offer accessible direct recording electronic voting systems, with accessibility features such as audio, have allowed many voters with disabilities to vote privately and independently for the first time. Some counties and jurisdictions want to be exempted from requirements to ensure accessibility in elections when no federal race is on the ballot, but Texas needs to preserve standards to ensure all citizens can participate equally in the process. Many of these people lack ready access to an absentee ballot application, information about deadlines and assistance necessary to complete the application every time there is an election. Some people who submit absentee ballot applications require assistance signing their name, and often rely on service providers, such as nurses, social workers, and personal assistants who also serve and need to help others with similar needs. Currently, Texas makes it a crime to witness more than one absentee ballot application. In the name of fraud prevention, some suggest further restricting those who can assist absentee voters, but these restrictions violate the right to choice under the Voting Rights Act and do not address true fraud which is already illegal.
• Provisional ballots. While Texas has implemented provisional ballots to keep some voters from being wrongfully turned away from the polls, it has not decided to count the votes of registered voters who show up at the wrong precinct. In some cases, eligible voters have been directed by election officials or an online directory to the incorrect polling place, and some who show up at the wrong polling place are not told that they could go to another precinct to have their vote counted. Because many people with disabilities have limited access to accessible transportation to go to a second polling place, it is especially important that they be able to have their vote counted when a polling place error occurs.
• Voter ID. Fewer people with disabilities need driver’s licenses or state identification cards on a routine basis. Additionally, many people with disabilities have limited resources and access to transportation, so requiring special IDs for voting is, therefore, burdensome.

Justification: Continued reforms to improve access to the electoral process for people with disabilities matters to all Texans because public confidence in our system of democracy is based on knowing that all eligible voters are able to participate and have their vote count.