We cannot deny disabled voters equal protection under the law
New state election laws have prompted debate about whether they will make it more difficult for people to vote. Missing in that national conversation is consideration of equal protection for an often-overlooked class of American voters: the disabled, who have special accessibility needs. Important strides have been made to ensure that Americans with disabilities can exercise their right to vote. Nevertheless, too many disabled individuals face persistent risks and challenges that other voters do not — it’s an untenable situation that may deny them equal protection under the law.
There were more than 38 million disabled voters eligible to cast ballots in 2020, and they were nearly twice as likely as non-disabled voters to encounter problems. Certainly, we do not want to treat disabled voters as second-class citizens whose rights to full participation in our democracy are compromised.
Unfortunately, there is little financial incentive for the commercial election-technology industry to produce innovations to better serve voters with disabilities. Outmoded policy frameworks that justify providing fewer services to smaller groups of disadvantaged voters are equally at fault.