DISABILITY
ISSUES
INFORMATION
FOR
JOURNALISTS
TOPICS
ABOUT
THE CENTER
l
People with disabilities are about 20 percentage points less likely than those without disabilities to vote, and 10 points less likely to be registered to vote, say researchers who conducted a national random-household telephone survey of 1,240 Americans of voting age after the November, 1998 elections.
The lower voter turnout "is not explained by their perceptions of the political system or their perceived ability to participate," say researchers Kay Schriner of the University of Arkansas and Douglas Kruse of Rutgers University, who conducted the survey.
People with disabilities are more likely than those without disabilities to have encountered, or expect, difficulties in voting at a polling place. Of those voting in the past ten years, 8% of people with disabilities encountered such problems compared to less than 2% of people without disabilities. Among those not voting within the past ten years, 27% of people with disabilities would expect such problems compared to 4% of people without disabilities.
If people with disabilities voted at the same rate as those without disabilities, there would have been 4.6 million additional voters in 1998, raising the overall turnout rate by 2.5 percentage points.
Political parties were less likely to contact people with disabilities in the 1998 campaigns, the survey found.
The survey used the same questions used by the 2000 Census to identify disabled respondents. The sample was stratified so that interviews were conducted with 700 people with disabilities and 540 people without disabilities.
Kay Schriner, Ph.D., Department of Political Science
Douglas Kruse, School of Management and Labor Relations
EXPERTS:
Kay Schriner and Douglas Kruse have conducted a number of studies about voting access and persons with disabilities.
Douglas Kruse, School of Management and Labor RelationsContact information:
University of Arkansas
501-575-6417 (direct)
501-575-3356 (reception)
kays@comp.uark.edu
Rutgers University
732-445-5991
dkruse@rci.rutgers.edu
Kay Schriner, Ph.D., Department of Political Science
University of Arkansas
501-575-6417 (direct)
501-575-3356 (reception)
kays@comp.uark.edu
Rutgers University
732-445-5991
dkruse@rci.rutgers.edu
The Trace R&D Center was formed in 1971 to address the communication needs of people who are nonspeaking and have severe disabilities. Its director is
Gregg Vanderheiden.
Gregg Vanderheiden
Trace Research and Development Center
(608) 263-2309
info@trace.wisc.edu
OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST:
The following sites contain information that may be of interest. Please bear in mind that the information at these sites is not controlled by the Center for An Accessible society. Links to these sites do not imply that the Center supports either the organizations or the views presented.
The Project on Disability Politics at the University of Arkansas looks at political participation of people with disabilities, voting rights laws affecting people with disabilities and disability in American campaigns and elections."Voters with disabilities face discrimination nationwide," A report in the November/December 2000 issue of Ragged Edge magazine
The Trace Research & Development Center's efforts to make electronic voting machines easier to use for the average citizen, our aging population and people with disabilities can be found at http://trace.wisc.edu/world/kiosks/ez/voting/
The National Organization on Disability's "Getting Out The Disability Vote" campaign has background and commentary http://www.nod.org/vote2000/vote2000.html
Overview
Election reform legislation and access
Voting in America -- commentary
Polling sites remain inaccessible
- GAO Report details lack of access
- Disabled voters sue Florida
- Disabled voters sue DC
- Disabled voters sue CA
Studies: