ENSURING POLICIES AND PROCEDURES DO NOT DISCRIMINATE AGAINST PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

Public entities must ensure that they do not have policies, procedures, or practices in place that interfere with or prohibit persons with certain disabilities from registering to vote or voting based on their disability.  For example, an election official cannot refuse to provide an absentee ballot or voter registration form to a person with a disability because the official knows the voter resides in a nursing home.

In addition, the ADA requires public entities to modify their voting policies, practices, and procedures when such modifications are necessary to avoid discrimination on the basis of a voter’s disability.  That requirement is relaxed only if election administrators can show that the proposed modification would fundamentally alter the nature of the voting program.  For example, voters who use crutches may have difficulty waiting in a long line to vote.  The ADA does not require that these voters be moved to the front of the line, but the public entity should provide a chair for them while they wait.  For a voter with multiple sclerosis who may be unable to tolerate extreme temperatures, providing a chair inside the polling place may be an appropriate modification.

Similarly, election officials must modify a “no animals/pets” policy to allow voters with disabilities to be accompanied by their service animals in all areas of the polling place where the public is allowed to go.  Additionally, if a jurisdiction requires voters to provide identification, the ADA requires that election officials not restrict the permissible forms of identification from voters with disabilities to ones that are not available to those voters.  For example, individuals with severe vision impairments, certain developmental disabilities, or epilepsy are ineligible in many states to receive a driver’s license.  Thus, accepting only a driver’s license would unlawfully screen out these voters.