ANCOR Joins Letter Urging Congress to Protect Rights of Voters with Disabilities

As part of its coalition efforts, ANCOR joined 17 other organizations in a letter asking congressional leadership to support efforts that would strengthen voting access for people with disabilities during the pandemic.

As written in the letter:

“On behalf of the undersigned organizations, which represent and work to advance the rights of people with disabilities, we urge Congress to protect the rights of voters with disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act takes critical steps towards voting access, but now is the time to make every step of our voting system more accessible to all eligible voters, while protecting the health and safety of every voter. Specifically, we ask that Congress: (1) emphasize the requirement that all elections websites and online voter registration portals be accessible; (2) protect and expand in-person and early voting options; 3) require multiple accessible options be available for remote voting, such as Remote Access Vote by Mail (RAVBM); and; (4) provide funding to research, create, and test systems to improve access to voters with disabilities to more easily vote by mail and online.

People with disabilities have overcome tremendous barriers to participate in our elections. Congress recognized these barriers when it passed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990 and the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) in 2002. Even though the COVID-19 pandemic will have a profound impact on our elections, we cannot disregard the commitments Congress has made to voters with disabilities. The ADA and HAVA must be protected and enforced to their full capacity to ensure every voter has equal access to a private, independent ballot.”