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By SUSAN COHEN
Sunday, October 21, 2007

As a disability advocate for more than 20 years, I was asked recently why it matters whether individuals with disabilities get equal access to the voting process.

When I was in school, people with obvious disabilities rode in little yellow school buses. They were not considered individuals who could succeed or needed to be taken seriously. A lot has changed since then, partly because of the passage of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act and the earlier Rehabilitation Act.

People with disabilities want, and in many cases are expected, to be productive members of society. That includes owning or renting property, working, paying taxes and going to the polls to exercise their voting rights.

Yet these same successful, tax-paying New Yorkers still cannot vote independently and privately. Those who need assistance with current voting machines must have two people -- one from each major political party -- go into the voting booth with them. Can you imagine having a cozy party of three in the booth while you are voting?

Some individuals cannot get into their polling place because they can't grasp the door handles, the ramp is badly constructed or some other barrier blocks accessibility. Some can't get accessible transportation to the polls, and some find their poll workers uninformed and rude when they try to vote. In 2006 and the 2007 primary, many people with disabilities had to travel up to 50 miles to find an accessible voting machine.

According to the American Association of Persons with Disabilities (AAPD), the 2000 census reports that one in five Americans said they had some form of disability. That's 20 percent of the population -- more than enough of a margin to win an election.

Jim Dixon, director of the association's national vote project, calls individuals with disabilities "the sleeping giants of American politics."

The disability community does not enjoy the political power held by other minority groups, such as senior citizens, labor unions and the National Rifle Association. This is partly because individuals with disabilities have lower voter turnout compared to other groups. Clearly, these attitudinal and physical barriers have disempowered people with disabilities who have worked for decades to be successful, productive and contributing members of society.

The most obvious example of attitudinal barriers has been demonstrated by New York state's noncompliance with the Help America Vote Act, enacted in 2002 to modernize U.S. elections. This law mandated that, first for 2006, and then by March 2008, there would be a disability-accessible voting machine in every polling place, as well as public education and poll-worker training. The disability community hoped that with the passage of this legislation, individuals with disabilities finally would be "mainstreamed" into the electoral process after more than 200 years. These hopes were not realized.

The U.S. Justice Department sued New York in March 2006 for noncompliance with HAVA, noting that the Empire State ranked last in implementation.

This noncompliance, primarily the result of political wrangling and generally dysfunctional leadership, struck a nerve with the disability community. It was as if people with disabilities were put back on those little yellow buses, patted on the head and told their votes don't matter. The disability community, led by Brad Williams of the New York State Independent Living Council, fought back.

The state Board of Elections -- after ignoring written communications from disability advocates dating back to 1999; being sued in federal and state courts; an act of civil disobedience by people with disabilities; formation of a statewide disability voting coalition; and many news stories -- has come in recent weeks to recognize the disability community as a necessary partner in providing disability voting access.

It felt like a sweet victory Sept. 11 when the disability community met with the board. We were finally able to offer positive, practical solutions in poll-site accessibility, selection of accessible voting machines and guidelines for poll-worker training.

But all has not been resolved, an Oct. 4 Times Union story by James Odato reported. The Board of Elections remains sharply divided on how best to implement HAVA; therefore, the fate of compliance is most likely in the hands of the federal courts.

My colleagues and I, however, have the quiet satisfaction of knowing that because of the perseverance of the disability community, we have graduated from those little yellow school buses and now sit at the negotiating table with other powerful special interest groups in New York.

Susan Cohen is a project coordinator at the New York State Independent Living Council and coordinator of New Yorkers with Disabilities Getting Equal Voting Access. Her e-mail address is suec@nysilc.org.

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