By Brian Dimmick, ACLU Senior Staff Attorney, Disability Rights Program and Aaron Madrid Aksoz, ACLU Communications Strategy Associate

People with disabilities have long faced some of the greatest barriers to voting in our elections. From inaccessible polling places and a lack of working accessible voting machines to onerous restrictions on absentee voting, our right to the ballot has often been ignored or forgotten.

In 2020, over 11 percent of voters with disabilities reported that they faced some type of difficulty casting a ballot — more than any other group and despite expanded access to mail-in voting due to the pandemic. But instead of embracing the more accessible forms of voting that sparked record turnout, including among voters with disabilities, states have doubled down on new and more restrictive voter suppression laws.

In 2021 alone, more than 400 anti-voter measures were introduced by states across the country, many of which are most burdensome to people of color and voters with disabilities. These measures run the gamut from restricting access to absentee voting, eliminating Election Day registration, and making it more difficult to vote early in person, to criminalizing the act of assisting voters with disabilities to vote. We’re challenging some of the measures that have become law in court in Georgia and Texas, where egregious restrictions illegally burden the right to vote for people with disabilities.

Whether you choose to vote in person early or on Election Day, or vote absentee, you’ll have to navigate a complex web of state and local election rules and deadlines regarding voter registration, absentee ballots, and fixing or “curing” a ballot that was rejected, often due to missing or incorrect information.

This election season, we’re fighting back against voter suppression and urging all Americans to vote for their values and fight for their rights.

American Civil Liberties Union

Vote Your Values | American Civil Liberties Union

For voters with disabilities, we’re making sure you know your rights and can find resources about how to vote, including voting absentee and curing a ballot if it’s rejected.

Vote.gov helps you quickly register to vote if you haven’t already. Register early, as some states require you to register to vote 30 days or more before an election.

If you’re already registered, double check that your registration, including current address, is up to date.

All U.S. states and Washington, D.C. permit people with an illness or disability to vote absentee, allowing you to mail in your ballot or drop it off at a drop box or polling location.

Similar to voter registration, each state has its own set of deadlines and rules for voting absentee. Check out the deadlines here on Vote.org. Some states require you to complete an application in order to receive an absentee ballot, and the deadline to apply may be as early as two weeks before the election. New voter suppression laws may require you to provide proof of ID to request an absentee ballot.

Hannah Schoenbaum/ AP Photo

You can find information about how to request an absentee ballot in your state using this tool from the National Association of Secretaries of State. Pick your state from the drop down menu and it will open a page or document with instructions on how to request an absentee ballot.

VoteAmerica, Vote.org, and the Election Protection Hotline have additional resources and information.

If you plan to vote in person or return your absentee ballot in a drop box, locate your polling place or drop box. Many states do not allow you to vote in person at a location that is not designated as your assigned precinct. Check to see if your state requires an ID to vote in person.

If you plan to submit your ballot by mail, send it at least a week before the election to be sure it arrives by Election Day. Your absentee ballot will likely require you to sign the ballot and/or ballot envelope, and may require one or more witnesses to sign as well. Your ballot will be rejected if the signature is missing

Once your ballot is in, use your state’s ballot tracker to see if it’s been counted. Ballots may be rejected if there is a missing signature on the ballot envelope or a discrepancy in the signature matching process, or if your voter file is missing identifying information like your social security number or driver’s license number. One in eight mail-in ballots were rejected in the Texas primary earlier this year, so make sure your voter file is up to date with all the required information.

If your ballot is rejected, 24 states will allow you to correct your ballot in a process known as “curing.” These states are required to notify you via mail, phone, or email, that your ballot has been rejected and you need to correct it.

Most states will notify you within days of the election if your ballot has been rejected, and you will be given between 3 days and two weeks to prove your identity for your ballot to be counted.

Federal law, including the Americans with Disabilities Act and Voting Rights Act, require election workers to:

• Make polling places fully accessible to voters with disabilities.
• Have at least one voting system at each polling place that allows people with disabilities to vote privately and independently.
• Allow voters with disabilities to receive in-person help at the polls (except from an agent of your employer or union).
• Make other reasonable accommodations if possible for them to do so.

Read more about your rights as a voter with a disability here.

If you need more information about voting, or want to report voter suppression or intimidation, contact the Election Protection Hotline at 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683).

By Ricardo Mimbela, ACLU Communications Strategist and Rebecca McCray, ACLU Senior Editor

With the midterms coming up, we are chatting with some of our great affiliate volunteers about what issues are most important to them, and how they motivate voters to cast their ballots. We hope these conversations inspire you to vote for your values and join us in this once-in-a-generation battle to protect our nation.

American Civil Liberties Union

Vote Your Values | American Civil Liberties Union

This election, join us by pledging to vote for your values, and fight for your rights by encouraging your friends and family to do the same.

This week, we spoke to Connie Horton-Kross, a retired nurse from Holland, Michigan, who worked in reproductive health her whole career and now volunteers with the ACLU of Michigan. Through the determination of Connie and countless other abortion rights advocates, the Reproductive Freedom for All ballot committee, supported by the ACLU of Michigan, rallied and got more than 750,000 petition signatures to put Proposal 3 on the ballot this November, which would restore the protections of Roe v. Wade in the Michigan Constitution. Connie tells us what motivated her to get involved, why she is voting Yes on Proposal 3, and why talking to her friends and family about voting is so important.

Image Courtesy of Connie Horton-Kross

ACLU: What motivated you to get involved with the ACLU of Michigan as a volunteer, especially around the Reproductive Freedom for All initiative?

Connie Horton-Kross: Nursing has been my passion my whole life. My public health career focused on reproductive health. I retired as a public health nurse in 2018, but stayed involved at the Michigan Family Planning Advisory Council as a private citizen. I also volunteered giving out COVID-19 vaccines, but still wanted to do more. That’s when I really started watching what was going on with the Dobbs decision. I’d never been really politically active aside from some volunteer work, but this time, I couldn’t sit here and let this happen. At first, I was just going to take a couple of petitions and have them signed. But then, I was creating events and mobilizing people and it just blossomed into this whole thing. I’ve spoken to professionals and during conferences before about abortion and reproductive health, but to get out there and talk to someone that may have an opposing opinion was frightening. But I have really gained confidence with that and I’ve never had any negative interactions this whole time.

ACLU: How do you reach out to folks to get them involved?

CH: Most of the outreach I do is specific to people. For example, I’ve got a group of friends that are retired nurses too. I got them all together and they ended up volunteering and collecting signatures with me. Now that they’ve gotten involved, we’ll go out to happy hour and we discuss the next steps. I also take part in activist groups to get people to mobilize. After the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, we actually had a march in Holland, Michigan with over 1,500 people. I met women in their early 20s with megaphones, marching. People had tears in their eyes because Holland is so conservative and to see that kind of support … I still get choked up. It was just amazing to see all walks of life, all ages, saying that we couldn’t let this happen.

ACLU: How do you explain to people why voting is important, and persuade them to take part in upcoming elections?

CH: I just start with a conversation. I make sure they’re registered. If they’re not, I keep the QR code to register to vote on my clipboard. I’ve met a lot of young people that hadn’t registered yet and that did it right on the site so they could sign the petition. I really push that and I tell them that’s their say in what happens. If you don’t stay involved, things will happen that you won’t have any control over. The perfect example of this is reproductive freedom. These people are going to be making rules and laws about you and your body. If you don’t get out there and vote, you really can’t gripe. That’s why I tell my kids, if you don’t vote, you just agreed to whatever happens.

ACLU: What would you say to people who feel like their vote might not matter, or who just feel disempowered?

CH: I tell them that if we give up, then they win, and they’re just going to keep taking more freedoms away. I just focus on that point, that this is taking your rights and choices away. On abortion for example, if they take this choice from you, what’s next? This is health care. It’s part of the decision between you and your doctor. It’s not meant to be political. I can be pretty persuasive that way and talk to people with the facts.

Image Courtesy of Connie Horton-Kross

ACLU: How do you motivate your own friends and family to get out there and vote?

CH: I talk to all my friends, especially about abortion. My mother-in-law is 86 years old and was staying at my house on the Fourth of July, during the last weekend of the petitions. She started seeing all these people come in, dropping off last-minute petitions, so I told her that I’ve been volunteering. She knows what my job was, so I explained to her that some women that have an ectopic pregnancy, can’t get a procedure to remove the tissue afterwards, other women suffer membrane ruptures prematurely and could get an infection, but they need to get very sick before they can get a termination. I’ve been hitting everybody strictly from a medical point of view and how this is going to affect women’s lives. I think that she’s willing to listen. My son also, who’s 25 and leans more conservative, didn’t sign the petition and we had some discussions about it. It’s interesting that we have such an opposite point of view, but it’s okay. We were able to talk openly.

ACLU: Has anything surprised you in your activism around this issue?

CH: It is surprising to see the amount of support and passion. Women that came out to sign petitions, many of them had their own abortion story. I didn’t know any of these people. They just came out to sign the petition and we were sitting there, my husband and I, and they opened up and told us their story. Stories on how they could have died without an abortion or how they would be living in poverty now. This happened at least a dozen or more times.

ACLU: Why did you decide to share your story? And what else do you want people to know about your experience?

CH: I want people to know that I really felt empowered by doing this, and I felt like I was empowering others to come out and help too. I learned that if I was passionate enough and not afraid to speak up, then I could motivate people to get involved. It was great to see my friends involved, and see that empowered women empower women. I’m looking forward to continuing fighting for this and getting this passed.

Interested in working with people like Connie to defend our rights? Find out more about how to get involved here.

American Civil Liberties Union

Midterm Elections: How These Offices Impact Your Rights | News & Commentary | American Civil Liberties Union

Elected officials don’t have the final say when it comes to our rights — we do. Let the ACLU help you step into your power at the ballot box!

Paid for by American Civil Liberties Union, Inc., 125 Broad Street, New York, New York 10004, in coordination with Reproductive Freedom for All.

By Kary L. Moss, ACLU Director, Addiliate Support & Nationwide Initiatives.

As midterm elections near, there is no question that we are facing a real and existential threat to our basic human rights and the fundamentals of American democracy. Engendered by the election of Donald Trump to the Presidency in 2016, and emboldened by the January 6 insurrection in 2021, we have an important opportunity to make sure our elected officials commit to standing up for the values we hold dear: the right to bodily integrity, the right to access abortion, the right to have your vote counted.

These fights have moved in full force to the states. Most people understand the importance of who sits in the governor’s mansion, but it’s also true that secretaries of state, state attorneys general, state supreme courts, state legislators, and county clerks all wield extraordinary power in our government. That’s why we are doubling down on “down-ballot” races, where voters can cast an informed vote and hold these elected officials accountable.

The ACLU is nonpartisan, so we don’t tell voters who to vote for, but we do inform voters about what is at stake in an election. Here’s a quick snapshot of the types of civil liberties and civil rights issues that could be on your ballot.

https://www.aclu.org/vote-your-values

Because the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, states are now more empowered to restrict or ban abortion care outright. So, we’re taking our fight to the states and elected officials to create a firewall to protect abortion access.

Starting with a ballot initiative in Michigan, we’re working to pass Proposal 3, which would ensure every Michigander has the fundamental right to reproductive freedom, including the ability to make personal medical decisions about pregnancy, birth control, abortion, prenatal care, and childbirth. Michiganders are energized and motivated now more than ever to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade through this initiative, with a record number of signatures — more than 730,000 — putting it on the ballot.

In Vermont, we are working to ensure every Vermonter has the right to make their own reproductive decisions, including whether and when to become a parent, use or refuse birth control, or seek abortion care by passing Proposal 5. In Kentucky, our coalition is fighting against a constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would pave the way for a complete abortion ban. We’re urging voters to vote no on Amendment 2 to protect the rights of people to control their own personal, private medical decisions.

While ballot measures are an important part of our strategy, elected officials at all levels of state government will have a hand in either protecting or restricting abortion access, so we’re engaging in key state races that will impact this right. State supreme court judges can and often do find that state constitutions protect more rights than the U.S. Constitution, making them a powerful backstop against the attacks of radical, anti-abortion rights minorities. Now, state courts will likely be the final arbiters to decide whether our reproductive freedom is protected in the states. So for the first time, we’re focusing on state supreme court races, specifically in North Carolina, to hold a pro-abortion rights majority of 4-3.

In Kansas, where pro-abortion rights voters recently defeated an anti-abortion ballot initiative, we have to fight to protect that win by engaging in state House races to prevent the legislature from gaining enough votes to override a veto from the state’s pro-abortion rights governor. We are also working to make sure that local prosecutors will not prosecute individuals accused of accessing an abortion in states where care is banned by educating voters in places like Maricopa County, Arizona, about the candidates’ positions in their district attorney races. When we elevate this issue in races in states that have banned abortion, it places pressure on politicians to not enforce bans or pass new ones.

There is no more fundamental right in a democracy than the right to vote. It is how we make sure our voices are heard. It is how we hold politicians accountable. It is how all the other rights guaranteed to us under the federal and state constitutions can be protected. Yet that right is under attack in state after state. The Big Lie about the 2020 presidential election has emboldened those who would take away the right to vote from those with whom they disagree.

In Michigan, we are fighting back against voter suppression efforts that took hold after the 2020 election and the passage of a ballot initiative in 2018 that made it possible to engage in no-excuse absentee voting and same day registration. We led the 2018 ballot initiative and are prepared to defend that win with measures that would prevent an election steal. Proposal 2 will allow nine days of early voting, require pre-paid postage for absentee applications and ballots, require military and overseas ballots to be counted if postmarked by Election Day, and require ballot drop boxes for every 15,000 voters in a city. It will also protect the vote against the anti-democratic tactics that other states used during the 2020 election, by establishing that post-election audits may be conducted by state and local officials and that canvassing boards may only certify election results based on official vote counts. Proposal 2 will enhance election integrity and increase election security by modernizing how we administer elections to ensure every vote counts.

And in Connecticut, voters will be able to pass a ballot measure that will allow early voting in the state.

In most states, the integrity of the vote depends upon the secretary of state as the state’s chief election officer responsible for the oversight and administration of elections. So in Arizona, Minnesota, and Nevada, we are educating voters about candidates for this important office. Secretaries of state can expand voting access by implementing measures such as automatic voter registration and universal mail-in voting, and advocate for a legislative agenda that pushes for greater access to the ballot.

There are many other important issues at stake during this midterm election. Across the nation, voters will have the chance to send a clear message to elected officials that they oppose efforts to ban books and prevent students and teachers from discussing race and gender in their classrooms. We will not let politicians infringe on our right to learn by imposing their own partisan interests or political and religious beliefs in our classrooms.

We are working to make sure that in places like Arizona, immigration status is not a barrier to education. Proposition 308 would enable any person who has lived in the state for two or more years and graduated from a state high school to attend Arizona colleges, regardless of immigration status.

In Colorado, the No Eviction Without Representation ballot measure will ensure that Denver families will have equal and fair access to legal counsel when faced with housing injustice. This will help ensure all people — especially communities of color and women, who disproportionately face the threat of eviction — have access to safe and stable housing.

Your vote is your voice. Vote for what matters to you, and vote for the people you know will protect what matters to you. Make a plan and recruit friends and family to join you at the polls. For more on how you can vote for your values and fight for your rights, check out our midterm conversation guide, available here.

Paid for by American Civil Liberties Union, Inc., 125 Broad Street, New York, New York 10004, in coordination with Reproductive Freedom for All.

Paid for by American Civil Liberties Union, Inc. in coordination with Vermont for Reproductive Liberty.

Paid for by American Civil Liberties Union, Inc. in coordination with Protect Kentucky Access.

Paid for by American Civil Liberties Union, Inc., 125 Broad Street, New York, New York 10004, in coordination with Promote the Vote 2022.

Paid for by American Civil Liberties Union, Inc., in coordination with ACLU of Connecticut Rise PAC Incorporated.

Paid for by American Civil Liberties Union, Inc. in coordination with Yes on 308.

Paid for by American Civil Liberties Union, Inc. and authorized by NEWR Denver.