Barriers deny vote to people with disabilities.

Byline: Carole Patterson and Sarah Ross-Viles For The Register-Guard

The recent debate over a ramp to the new federal courthouse showed that this community believes that disability shouldn't impede access to justice. But Oregonians with disabilities face a far more imposing - yet less obvious - barrier to participation in democratic government: denial of the right to vote.

Throughout Lane County and Oregon, significant barriers prevent people with disabilities from voting. People with visual impairments cannot use the paper ballot without assistance. Individuals with cognitive disabilities may face resistance in trying to cast their ballot. People with dexterity difficulties (in fact, most people) cannot effectively mark the current punch-card ballot.

These impediments leave a disproportionate number of people with disabilities unrepresented. Among the visually impaired population alone, 59 percent do not vote in Oregon during presidential elections, and 70 percent do not vote in nonpresidential election years. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that an estimated 32.3 percent of the Lane County population has a disability, which means the voice of a significant portion of our population is silenced by lack of voter access and participation.

The impact of this disenfranchisement became clear in the last legislative session, when lawmakers drastically cut social service funding to people with disabilities with little fear of reprisal at the polls.

The Help America Vote Act, enacted by Congress last year, addresses the need for voting reforms, from punch-card ballots to verification of registration to access for citizens with disabilities. HAVA addresses improvements to voting systems and voter access identified following the 2000 presidential election, including access for people with disabilities.

Oregon will receive nearly $14 million to reform voting systems in the state, and the Lane Independent Living Alliance is working to ensure that the implementation of the federal act includes significant reforms to the accessibility of mail-in voting for people with disabilities.

This Friday, LILA is holding a Voter Access Summit to bring together leaders in the disability community with local and state elections officials to map out a plan to overcome obstacles to voting. Anyone interested in better access to democracy is invited.

LILA is working with state and local election officials, heads of disability organizations and supportive community members to create an accessible system that includes all potential voters. In the past, Oregon led the nation by creating a mail-in ballot system. Now we have another opportunity to lead the nation by exploring telephone and computer voting and other technical adaptations to make voting more accessible to all.

State Elections Director John Lindback, Help America Vote Act manager Frank Garcia, Deputy Secretary of State Paddy McGuire, Marion County Elections Clerk Al Davidson (who created a tactile ballot to meet the needs of the large number of visually impaired voters in that community) and Lane County Elections Director Annette Newingham and her staff will attend the Friday summit.

Lane County citizens are fortunate that our local officials are willing to hear from and work directly with the disability community to overcome these obstacles to full democratic participation. Lane County, through LILA, the League of Women Voters and our local elections office, is the first county in the state to seriously address barriers to voting for the thousands of citizens with disabilities.

LILA is joined on the national level by the American Association of People with Disabilities in addressing voting rights. AAPD Vice President Jim Dickson will deliver the keynote speech for the summit and will conduct training sessions with our local elections workers.

This month, people from all segments of Eugene came together to advocate the need for full and equal access to all at the federal courthouse through the construction of a ramp. We invite the community to come together again to build a path to greater participation in community life and public decision-making, through ensuring access to the most fundamental right of all: the right to vote.

Carole Patterson is the organizer for LILA. Sarah Ross-Viles is LILA voter project coordinator. The Voter Access Summit will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Friday at The Shedd, 868 High St., in Eugene. For more information, contact LILA at 607-7020 or email [e-mail].