Voting While Disabled Needs to Get Easier

Disabled voters encountered numerous obstacles while casting their ballots during the midterm elections, highlighting both a lack of accommodation for marginalized individuals across the country and deliberate voter suppression in certain states. Casey Doherty, a policy analyst for the Center for American Progress’ Disability Justice Initiative, stated that disabled voters often face barriers to voting in every state, county, and polling place.

Approximately 40 million disabled Americans are eligible to vote, but numerous attacks on mail-in voting have disproportionately disenfranchised many disabled people, particularly those who are immunocompromised or otherwise Covid-conscious and may be hesitant to visit potentially poorly ventilated polling locations. However, challenges extend to every stage of the voting process, including registration and receiving voting materials on time.

While some states have enacted exemptions for disabled voters, many disabled voters, including those interviewed, still prefer in-person voting due to concerns about the potential improper counting of mail ballots. In states like Georgia, which recently made it a felony for certain individuals to return a ballot on behalf of another voter, disabled voters often rely on ballot assistance both at polling places and by mail.

In the South, where the number of polling locations decreased by approximately 2,700 in the decade following the 2013 Shelby County v. Holder decision, many disabled voters may need to travel further to vote. According to a 2024 report by the US Election Assistance Commission and Rutgers University, 14 percent of voters with disabilities faced issues while voting during the 2022 midterm elections, compared to 4 percent of non-disabled individuals.

More people experienced accessibility problems voting in person than voting by mail. Among the most common reported difficulties among in-person voters with disabilities in 2022 were long waiting lines, reading or seeing the ballot, writing on the ballot, and entering the polling place. In the lead-up to the 2026 elections, additional voting restrictions have been implemented by states that have exploited the Supreme Court’s weakening of the Voting Rights Act, forcing some disabled people to re-register and limiting the time frame for voting.

Although voting accessibility has improved over the past two decades, with more ramps at voting locations and accessible voting machines, problems persist, often requiring individuals to file individual complaints under federal or state disability laws—a process that has historically limited enforcement of accessibility statutes and made it more difficult to expand voting accessibility specifically.

Moreover, polling places in churches, which are exempt from the Americans with Disabilities Act, often lack adequate accommodations, leaving disabled voters with few options when these locations are inaccessible. For instance, one Deaf voter in Georgia reported being repeatedly instructed not to use an electronic device she requires for captioning, while a woman with severe ME/CFS in New Mexico faced challenges obtaining a sworn statement from her doctor to receive a last-minute absentee ballot.

A chronically ill Illinois voter needed a chair while waiting in line but had to lug it herself because of inadequate staffing at the polling place. Maria Town, president and CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities, expressed concerns about voting privately on Election Day in Maryland's Prince George’s County, where the only voting table without long lines lacked a privacy screen that matched the height of her mobility scooter, preventing her from voting anonymously.

Justin Salas, who is blind, struggled to access a sample ballot for his area before voting on Election Day due to the website's incompatibility with screen readers. Salas had also been reprimanded for using a magnifying tool on his phone to vote in the 2024 elections. In Riverside, Missouri, Patrisha Gillette, who lives with lupus and small fiber neuropathy, attempted to use curbside voting but faced difficulties due to signage directing voters to other methods.