Voting & Elections

Voting Matters

Historically, people with disabilities and their families, who make up 25% of the voting population, have low turnout rates. Many don’t make the connection between elections and the education, services, and supports they need. And there are barriers to people with disabilities participating in American democracy, from inaccessible polling places to difficult-to-understand voting materials.

Disability Voices United works to eliminate those barriers, educate the disability community about the right to vote, ensure that we understand how the issues and candidates’ positions affect us, and urges policymakers to recognize people with disabilities and their families as a voting constituency with diverse interests and concerns.

Disability Voices United President Judy Mark interviewed on CBSLA about the barriers to voting that people with disabilities face

The Disability Vote California logo. It looks like a white political button with "Disability Vote California" written on it. 'Disability' and 'California' are in blue text; Vote is in large red text in the middle of the button. There are 2 light blue stars on either side of the word VOTE.

Check out Disability Vote California website! >>

As the 2020 election is the most important of our lifetimes, Disability Voices United brought together over 40 disability organizations to form a coalition called Disability Vote California. 

Disability Vote California seeks to engage and inform voters with disabilities and empower members of our community to facilitate access to voting for ourselves and our friends and neighbors with disabilities. We are a nonpartisan coalition that works to eliminate barriers to voting, promote accessibility of voting technology and polling places, educate voters about issues and candidates, promote turnout of voters with disabilities across the state, engage candidates and the media on disability issues, and protect eligible voters’ right to participate in elections.
 
Under DVU’s leadership and working with our partners, Disability Vote California has hosted webinars and candidate, produced plain language materials, and conducted outreach to ensure people with disabilities and their families are getting out to vote. You can find recordings of previous Disability Vote California webinars below.

Past Disability Vote California Webinars