[Massachusetts-NFB] FYI FW: DVRW: Voting for Something

Wed Sep 11 18:33:28 UTC 2024

For your information

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Dear friend, 

Today, we have an important message from Disability Voting Rights Week partner State Voices:

No matter who you are, where you live, what you believe in, or who you love, there is something you can vote for as you head to the polls. You don’t have to vote for everything, but vote for something this November.

Today, Day 3 of Disability Voting Rights Week, we invite you to join the State Voices’ “ <https://aapd.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=08dab5cd58ad9250c3f56519f&id=892e3676cc&e=27b846664b> Vote for Something” campaign! Use the  <https://aapd.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=08dab5cd58ad9250c3f56519f&id=3c268e213e&e=27b846664b> Vote for Something Toolkit for social media graphics, messaging, templates, and tip sheets. 

One thing we’re voting for is the right of people with disabilities to live and thrive in our communities. 

On this topic, we’re highlighting the work of two Disability Voting Rights Week partners: New Disabled South and the League of Women Voters.  

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Home- and Community-Based Services (HCBS), funded by Medicaid, provide support for tasks of daily living, like eating and dressing.

These services help older adults age in place, help families stay together, prevent segregation and institutionalization and help people with disabilities thrive in our communities. There is a dire shortage of care workers and direct support personnel to assist individuals with disabilities and long wait lists. Lack of support threatens people’s ability to live in the community and creates serious health risks.

New Disabled South uncovered  <https://aapd.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=08dab5cd58ad9250c3f56519f&id=fbea0c68ba&e=27b846664b> significant disparities in the waitlist for HCBS in Georgia. Their research found that there are 27.9% more Black Georgians on the waitlist for services than white Georgians. 

“This alarming discrepancy underscores a persistent pattern of racial inequity in access to critical healthcare resources,” Kiana Jackson, 2023.  <https://aapd.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=08dab5cd58ad9250c3f56519f&id=0a9a929c78&e=27b846664b> Read the full report, plain language summary, or listen to the audio recording. 

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Not only is access to care a motivating issue for us as voters, access to care can impact our ability to vote. Over the past few years, states have passed laws that criminalize voter assistance. 

In Ohio, the League of Women Voters (LWV) and Jennifer Kucera, an Ohio voter and disability rights activist, filed a  <https://aapd.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=08dab5cd58ad9250c3f56519f&id=38a3b50ea2&e=27b846664b> federal lawsuit against Ohio’s HB 458, which set restrictions on who could assist a voter in returning an absentee ballot and created felony charges for violating the rule. The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Ohio, and law firm Covington & Burling represented LWV Ohio and Ms. Kucera. 

In a win for disabled voters,  <https://aapd.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=08dab5cd58ad9250c3f56519f&id=7096dc6394&e=27b846664b> a federal court struck down the harmful restrictions and affirmed that Section 208 of the Voting Rights Act allows voters with disabilities to “select a person of their choice to assist them with voting,” including the return of the voter’s absentee ballot.

For Ms. Kucera, this meant that she could continue to receive support from her trusted direct care workers in order to cast her vote. 

This fight continues in several other states across the country, and we’ll keep advocating with partners like the League of Women Voters to protect the rights of voters.  

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State Voices is working with state partners across the country to build a healthy democracy and political power with Black, Indigenous, Latine, Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI), and all people of color (BIPOC). In addition to the iconic Vote for Something campaign, State Voices leaders are hosting regular events, online and in-person, to rev up for Election Day.  <https://aapd.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=08dab5cd58ad9250c3f56519f&id=8d0d09001a&e=27b846664b> Attend a State Voices event. 

New Disabled South is working to improve the lives of disabled people and build strong disability justice and rights movements in the South. Check out their  <https://aapd.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=08dab5cd58ad9250c3f56519f&id=97ec711fe9&e=27b846664b> Voting in the South resources and  <https://aapd.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=08dab5cd58ad9250c3f56519f&id=3443976c4a&e=27b846664b> Plain Language Policy Dashboard

League of Women Voters  is a political grassroots network and membership organization that believes the freedom to vote is a nonpartisan issue. For more than a century, they’ve worked to empower voters and defend democracy. The League has over 750 affiliates, many of whom have been incredible disability voting activists and allies.  <https://aapd.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=08dab5cd58ad9250c3f56519f&id=959d01eccd&e=27b846664b> Find a League near you. The League also helps voters find the information they need from registering to learning what’s on your ballot on their  <https://aapd.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=08dab5cd58ad9250c3f56519f&id=1102cfa2fd&e=27b846664b> VOTE411.org page.  

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Our mailing address is:

American Association of People with Disabilities

2020 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Mailbox 263

Washington, DC 20006

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