“Voting is a right, not a privilege.”
For over 61 million disabled Americans, that right is increasingly under threat.
As voter suppression tactics evolve in 2025, disabled people once again find themselves disproportionately affected by restrictive laws, inaccessible polling places, and digital exclusion. Despite protections like the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), many states continue to implement policies that create unnecessary and illegal barriers to the ballot box.
This article explores how disabled Americans are being disenfranchised in 2025, what policies are to blame, and what can be done to protect the voting rights of one of the country’s most vulnerable—and most determined—voting blocs.
🗳️ Voting While Disabled: Still a Struggle in 2025
According to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, nearly 11% of voters with disabilities encountered difficulties voting in person in 2020. Those barriers have only grown worse.
Here’s what disabled voters are facing in 2025:
- Absentee ballot restrictions in at least 15 states
- Polling place accessibility violations across the U.S.
- Bans on ballot assistance—even from caregivers
- Voting tech that excludes screen reader and mobility device users
- Misuse of voter ID laws to target non-drivers, many of whom are disabled
While the nation debates “election security,” disabled voters are being left behind—or actively pushed out of the process altogether.
🔎 Legal Protections That Should Matter (But Don’t Always)
Disabled voters are not asking for favors—they are demanding their rights.
Under federal law, they are entitled to accessible voting:
- ADA (1990): Requires equal access to public services, including voting.
- Help America Vote Act (HAVA, 2002): Mandates accessible voting systems in every precinct.
- Voting Rights Act (1965, Section 208): Allows voters with disabilities to bring someone to assist them at the polls.
But here’s the problem: these laws are often ignored, poorly enforced, or overridden by new state-level legislation under the guise of “preventing fraud.”
🚧 Barriers Faced by Disabled Voters
🪪 1. Strict Voter ID Laws
As of 2025, over 30 states have implemented strict photo ID laws.
For disabled people who:
- Don’t drive
- Live in institutions
- Struggle to get to the DMV
- Have non-matching documentation due to name changes, gender transition, or disability status
These laws create a burden that blocks participation.
📬 2. Criminalizing Ballot Assistance
In Wisconsin and Georgia, it’s now illegal for anyone other than immediate family to return another person’s ballot. Even caregivers and legal aides can be fined or prosecuted for helping.
That means:
- People with mobility impairments can’t get help dropping off ballots.
- Blind voters can’t ask a neighbor to submit their vote.
- Voting becomes a criminal risk for both parties.
🏫 3. Inaccessible Polling Places
Despite ADA and HAVA, many polling places still:
- Lack ramps or have broken elevators
- Don’t offer accessible voting machines
- Have machines that poll workers don’t know how to use
- Lack seating, shade, or assistance for people with fatigue or heat sensitivity
In 2022, only 17% of polling places were fully accessible. In 2025, the number hasn't improved.
🧠 4. Discrimination Against Cognitive Disabilities
Voters with intellectual or psychiatric disabilities often face:
- Wrongful disenfranchisement if they have a guardian
- Intimidation by poll workers
- Being denied help filling out a ballot
In several states, guardianship laws allow courts to remove voting rights, even when the individual has the capacity to understand and cast a ballot.
🧩 Case in Point: Wisconsin’s 2025 Absentee Ballot Ban
In early 2025, a Wisconsin appeals court ruled that voters must return absentee ballots themselves—no exceptions.
This effectively disenfranchises:
- Seniors in care homes
- Disabled people who don’t leave their homes
- Rural voters without transit access
The state argued the policy was necessary to prevent fraud. But as disability advocates pointed out, there is no evidence of widespread ballot fraud by disabled voters.
Instead, the impact is clear: thousands of disabled voters now risk being silenced.
🗣️ Real Voices: How Suppression Affects Lives
“I use a wheelchair and can't drop off my own ballot. My caregiver has done it for years. Now she could go to jail for helping me vote.”
— Tina, 42, Wisconsin
“They said my mom couldn’t vote because I help her with reading the ballot. She has Parkinson’s, not a lack of intelligence.”
— Marcus, caregiver in Georgia
“They didn’t set up the accessible machine. The worker said, ‘No one ever uses it.’ I had to leave without voting.”
— Latasha, blind voter in Ohio
💻 The Digital Divide: Online Registration & Voting Access
More states are moving voter registration and information online—but many official websites still:
- Lack screen reader compatibility
- Use CAPTCHA without audio or accessible alternatives
- Offer forms only in PDF with no fillable options
For people using assistive tech, this is another layer of exclusion. And digital absentee ballot tracking systems often aren’t optimized for screen magnifiers or text resizing.
🧠 Mental Health & Voting Anxiety
Disabled voters with anxiety, PTSD, or autism face unique challenges:
- Crowded polling places
- Unpredictable sensory environments
- Lack of clear instructions or signage
Without options like vote-by-mail or quiet voting hours, many simply opt out to avoid distress, even when they want to vote.
🏛️ What Needs to Happen
Protecting the right to vote is not optional—it’s fundamental. Here's what advocates, lawmakers, and allies must push for:
✅ Federal Action
- Reinstate full protections under the Voting Rights Act
- Enforce and fund the ADA and HAVA provisions nationwide
- Protect ballot assistance rights under Section 208
✅ State and Local Improvements
- Fund accessible voting equipment and train poll workers
- Ensure at least one accessible machine per polling place
- Allow caregiver or aide ballot return with proper ID and consent
- Conduct regular accessibility audits with disabled testers
✅ Tech & Digital Improvements
- Ensure online registration and ballot tools meet WCAG 2.1 AA standards
- Offer plain-language and screen reader-friendly voter guides
- Provide accessible mobile voting pilots where appropriate
✊ What You Can Do
Whether you’re disabled, an ally, or just believe in democracy, here’s how to take action:
📣 Speak Out
- Share this article
- Post your experiences using #CripTheVote, #DisabilityRights, or #AccessTheVote
- Write letters to your local elections office demanding accessibility
🗳️ Prepare Early
- Request your ballot ASAP
- Review your voting rights at ncil.org
- Call ahead to ask about accessibility at your polling place
🧾 Support Disability Organizations
Groups like:
- National Disability Rights Network (NDRN)
- Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund (DREDF)
- ADAPT
- Crip The Vote
…are on the front lines of protecting and restoring access.
🧩 Final Thoughts: Voting Is a Disability Rights Issue
In 2025, the fight for voting access is not just about democracy—it’s about disability justice.
The right to vote is guaranteed to every citizen. But for millions of disabled Americans, that right is made conditional by:
- Bad policy
- Inaccessible infrastructure
- And a system that punishes vulnerability
We have the tools. We have the technology. We even have the laws. What we lack is the political will to prioritize disabled voices.
Let’s change that—before more voices are lost at the ballot box.
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