The right to vote for people with disabilities is still an issue in the Justice Department. A Voting Rights Act complaint was turned into the U.S. Justice Department in Los Angeles on Thursday, July 10, 2014. The question is the same question that states have been dealing with for decades: “Where is the line to disqualify someone from the voting booth because of a cognitive or developmental impairment?”
Seven years ago, a Bar Association report said that “excluding the broad and indefinite category of persons with mental incapacities is not consistent with either the constitutional right to vote … or the current understanding of mental capacity.” Also, using the ability to complete a voter-registration form to decide if someone with a disability has the right to vote is being seen as a literacy test. Literacy tests are not a legal way to decide if a person can vote.
So where is the line to disqualify someone from the voting booth because of a cognitive or developmental impairment? “There is this constant struggle to make sure everyone can vote privately and independently, regardless of disability,” said Curtis Decker, executive director of the National Disability Rights Network.
Quotations are from Star Tribune: Thousands with disabilities denied right to vote in California
Article by: MICHAEL R. BLOOD , Associated Press Updated: July 10, 2014 – 5:45 PM
