It may have been a frustrating week waiting for the winner of the presidential election to be announced. However, the delay was partially caused by mail-in ballots, which are especially important for voters with chronic illness or disability.
During the counting of such ballots, President Trump tweeted multiple times after election day to “STOP THE COUNT!”
Imani Barbarin, disability blogger, content creator and more, highlighted the importance of ensuring that all votes are counted with the hashtag, #CountDisabledPeoplesVotes.
In a TikTok posted on Instagram she commented, “The majority of the people that voted by mail are medically vulnerable, whether they’re disabled or chronically ill. So, they posted their votes in the mail because it was safer. By not counting them, they are not counting the disability community”.
Barbarin has also created a series called “Vote for Access” to educate people about barriers to voting for people with disabilities.
In the series, Barbarin speaks to voters with disabilities and emphasizes that all people have the right to vote.
“We should be able to vote with the proper supports, without misguided assumptions about our capacity,” Barbarin comments in Episode One.
Barriers to voting include negative attitudes and stereotypes, lack of access to information, inaccessible polling centers, lack of polling places in rural areas, difficulties in using mail-in ballots and voter suppression through barriers like voter ID or signature requirements.
“We just [sic] want accessibility prioritized at all stages of the voting process…At what point do we realize that ignorance and apathy about disabled people is another form of voter suppression?” Barbarin notes in Episode Five.
Her suggestions for increasing voting accessibility include:
- Making websites and other information sources more accessible
- Accessible polling sites and polling equipment for voters with disabilities
- Use of more accessible mail-in ballots, such as electronic ballots
- Support and privacy in voting at institutions
- Same-day voter registration