Backgrounder for September 22 media advisory:
Voter registration for people with disabilities aims to mobilize a powerful voting block, a "sleeping giant"

The push is on to help register people with disabilities and ensure they exercise their right to vote; accessibility still an issue

“One of the important facts to know about people with disabilities and voting is that people with disabilities are a significant sector of the population, and they have been underrepresented in the polling place,” says Allan I. Bergman, president and CEO of Anixter Center, a Chicago-based not for-profit human services agency that operates approximately 70 programs in 35 locations throughout Chicago and its suburbs. There are 54 million people with disabilities in the United states , according to the U.S. Census Bureau. “The disability vote is a sleeping giant, and we’d like to awaken it,” says Bergman.

With its emphasis on voter registration of people with disabilities, Anixter Center is focusing on the grassroots side of the issues of disability voting rights. Organizations such as the National Organization on Disability, the American Association of People with Disabilities and United Cerebral Palsy — among others — have been working on the policy side of this issue for a number of years.

According to U.S. Census Bureau figures, 67 percent of voters in the 55-64 age group case voted in the 2000 presidential election; turnout for people with disabilities was 41 percent, according to a post-election survey conducted by a National Organization on Disability/Harris Poll. “Our goal is to make sure people with disabilities vote at the same rate – at least – as the public at large (67 percent.) Ultimately, Bergman and other disability rights advocates would like to see that voter participation percentage reach the impressive 70 percent rate at which older Americans, age 65-74, vote. Of the nation’s 54 million people with disabilities, roughly 40 million are of voting age.  

People with disabilities and organizations that serve this population have a good deal riding on the upcoming elections. For example, disability advocates point out that the next president will most likely appoint several new Supreme Court justices. Advocates also believe elected officials need to be educated about the fact that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) should be appropriately enforced, not left to languish.

The Help America Vote Act (HAVA), passed in 2002, is still not fully funded. Without full funding, the provisions of HAVA, including equal access to the polls, are still not guaranteed to the millions of Americans with disabilities.

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The mission of the Lester and Rosalie Anixter Center is to assist people with disabilities to live and work successfully in the community. Anixter Center is a leading provider of high-quality vocational, residential and educational options, substance abuse prevention and treatment, and health care. Anixter Center is an advocate for the rights of people with disabilities to be full and equal members of the community.