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Disability and the Law

In: Social Issues

Submitted By jmart254
Words 1538
Pages 7
I. Intro
When voting day arrives, you stand in line, the poll workers check your identification, you vote, and within 10 minutes, you are done. But what happens when you are in a wheel chair and you arrive to your polling location but the voting booth is too high to reach and you can’t fit. Or your manually and visually impaired and have no one to help you fill out your ballot.

II. Question
With all the state and federal laws in place –including the American’s with Disabilities Act, there are polling places still not making the proper accommodations for people with disabilities. So you might wonder now, has anything been done to ensure all polling locations are updated to fit the needs of all people with disabilities?

III. History
The Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965 and is a federal law which prohibits voting discrimination based on color, race, or membership in a language minority group
(http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Voting+Rights+Act+of+1965). The act prohibits the states and their political parties from imposing voting qualifications or perquisites from voting that deny them the right to vote. Furthermore, 40 years later and people with disabilities are still being discriminated against around the time of elections. Some people even question if individuals with disabilities are able to vote and understand what they are voting for. Studies have shown that people with disabilities are interested in government and public affairs (http://www.accessiblesociety.org/topics/voting/index.htm).
The Americans with Disabilities Act came about in 1991, and has been revised several times since. The purpose of the document is to make sure the proper accommodations are made in public facilities to provide accessibility to people with disabilities. The Act also states that individuals with disabilities were “relegated to a position of political

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