A Poll Worker Humiliated Me on Election Day. Then I Learned My Rights

My very first time voting, I wasn’t well versed in my rights as a disabled voter.
I was a college student and I went to my polling place with a friend. As a wheelchair user, I am unable to reach the ballot box.
When I was next in line, I asked my friend if she could put my ballot in for me when she put hers in.
A man who was working at that polling place screamed at me and said: “If someone else touches your ballot it’s void.”
Not knowing my rights at the time, I was embarrassed and quickly apologized.
However, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 requires that states allow people with disabilities to receive assistance in the voting process.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice section 208 states: “Any voter who requires assistance to vote by reason of blindness, disability, or inability to read or write may be given assistance by a person of the voter’s choice, other than the voter’s employer or agent of that employer or officer or agent of the voter’s union.”
I had every right to ask for help from whoever I chose to help me. That polling station also didn’t educate its workers on disabled voters rights, something that often excludes disabled voters from participating.
There are also physical barriers that prevent disabled voters from accessing ballots.
Churches account for 20 percent of polling places, according to data compiled by Christianity Today, but being a private entity, they are under no legal obligation to be accessible.
So what happens when a person with a disability is assigned a non-accessible polling place?
That’s when options like mail-in ballots are essential, as is communicating with your polling place to find out if they are accessible in advance.
But when a voter doesn’t know this, those eligible votes are lost, contributing to the gap in disabled voter turnout.
There are around 38 million eligible voters in the United States that have some kind of disability, per the US Vote Foundation, meaning disabled voters make up one of the largest voting blocks in the country.
Yet, when compared to non-disabled voters, there is a 6 percent turnout gap for voters with disabilities.
This means that eligible voters with disabilities are less likely to have a say in the very policies that greatly impact the ways in which they live their lives, mostly due to things like access barriers or lack of polling places, and communities being educated on disabled voters rights.
This year marked the 34th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and is also known as National Disability Independence Day.
The ADA is a federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in everyday activities.
As a disabled woman, I remind myself on this day that people like me have only had a right to things like public spaces, education, and employment for 34 years.
I am privileged to only ever know a world with 504 and the ADA, recognizing that those protections for me only exist because of my disabled ancestors that fought for them.
These spaces only exist because of pioneering activists like Judy Heumann, who passed away last year and is known widely as the mother of the disability rights movement.
Many people have never even heard about the disability rights movement, as it is not often taught in schools.
Heumann led a collective effort of disabled activists in the 504 Sit-Ins which lasted 28 days. It was the longest nonviolent occupation of a federal building in United States history.
Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act was the first disability civil rights law to be enacted in the United States.
It prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in programs that receive federal financial assistance, and set the stage for enactment of the ADA, which Heumann also had a large part in getting passed.
Section 504 works together with the ADA and IDEA to protect children and adults with disabilities from exclusion, unequal treatment in schools, jobs and the community.
Heumann’s leadership in the 504 Sit-in, her role in the development of the ADA, and her global advocacy remind us of the power of voice and action.
I have never felt more empowered in my body than the day I learned about the strength and resilience of the disabled community—a community that has shaped me into the person that I am and continuously teaches me every single day.
I’m privileged in my adult life to see people who look like me existing in spaces that didn’t hold space for disabled people during my childhood.
I can flip through fashion magazines that once didn’t include disabled women in their definition of beauty and find models in wheelchairs. That would have been a confidence game changer in my childhood.
I see people with disabilities in all facets of life: Organizing, advocating, leading and continuing to push the needle of inclusion forward. People recognizing that every “yes” for us was once a “no” that our disabled ancestors refused to accept.
With upcoming elections, it’s crucial to remember that our votes shape the policies affecting disability rights.
Voting is a powerful tool for affirming our commitment to independence, inclusion and a more equitable world for people with disabilities.
By casting our ballots, we not only honor the legacy of advocates like Judy Heumann, but also ensure that our voices are heard in shaping a society that values all its members equally.
In order to cast our ballots effectively, we must also carry with us the knowledge of our voting rights to bridge the gap between disabled and non-disabled voters.
To combat this gap ahead of the 2024 elections, the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) has created a campaign called Access the Vote.
The campaign is aimed at educating the general public and the disabled community on their rights in order to produce the highest voter turnout of disabled voters as possible to ensure they have a say in policies that greatly affect their lives.
The MDA provides a step-by-step plan to help disabled individuals navigate the voting process in ways that make it more accessible.
In this plan, one is able to look at all the components of the voting process in one place—the general history of voting rights, how to assess the candidates, and how to make a plan for when casting your vote.
Voting is a deeply personal choice and experience. Every voter deserves the autonomy to have someone they trust by their side. Your vote is your voice.
Pledge to use it this year by visiting MDA.org/Vote, signing MDA’s Access the Vote campaign pledge, and registering to vote today.
Madison Lawson is a journalist, model and disability rights activist. She is an ambassador for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
All views expressed are the author’s own.
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