Wisconsin Celebrates Disability Voting Rights Week

September 11 – 15 is Disability Voting Rights Week, a national, nonpartisan initiative to build the power of the disability vote and increase awareness of voting rights. The Wisconsin Disability Vote Coalition and our partners are working to educate voters with disabilities and our community about voting rights and accessibility and increase participation in the electoral process.

A significant number of Wisconsin voters have a disability. The CDC estimates that 23% or about 1 in 4 adults in Wisconsin have a disability: 1,055,434 adults. Lack of accessibility and failure to uphold voting rights can be significant barriers to casting a ballot. In Wisconsin, the turnout gap between disabled and nondisabled voters for the 2022 elections is 11.7 %.* The disability gap in Wisconsin actually increased from 2018 to 2022 and is large enough to be outside the margin of error.

As part of Disability Voting Rights Week, Wisconsin voters with disabilities and their allies are participating in a September 11th Voting Listening Session hosted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western and Eastern Districts of Wisconsin and the Department of Justice’s Disability Rights Section, Civil Rights Division. The purpose of the session is to share experiences with any barriers faced by individuals with disabilities in the voting process, including in registering to vote, obtaining voting or election information, voting absentee, voting in person, polling place accessibility, or receiving assistance in voting.

In addition, the Disability Vote Coalition is pleased to introduce a new Voting Rights Toolkit to increase awareness of voting rights and of the federal and state laws that protect the rights of voters with disabilities.

• Link to Disability Vote Coalition Voting Rights Toolkit.

The Disability Vote Coalition remains committed to reducing the disability gap and to addressing barriers reported by disabled Wisconsin voters including denial of their federally protected right to ballot return assistance, problems with accessible voting equipment, inaccessible polling places, lack of acceptable photo ID, failure to provide curbside voting, poor access to transportation, confusion about voting rights for people who have a guardian, and limited awareness about voting rights and accommodations on the part of poll workers as well as many voters. Read our policy and budget recommendations to increase accessibility here.

The Wisconsin Disability Vote Coalition and our partners ask you to join us to raise the disability voice and encourage civic participation. For help with voting questions, contact the Disability Rights Wisconsin Voter Hotline at 844-347-8683 / 844-DIS-VOTE or email info@disabilityvote.org

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* Disability and Voter Turnout in the 2022 Elections: Supplemental Analysis of Census Voter Turnout Data, US Election Assistance Commission and Rutgers University, page 9

About the Wisconsin Disability Vote Coalition
The WDVC is a non-partisan effort to help ensure full participation in the entire electoral process of voters with disabilities, including registering to vote, casting a vote, and accessing polling places. The Coalition is coordinated by Disability Rights Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Board for People with Developmental Disabilities and includes people with disabilities and over 40 community organizations.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.