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Lesson 10 min 20 XP

Disability & Voting Access

How physical, sensory, and cognitive disabilities create barriers to voting and what accommodations exist to ensure equal access.

Barriers to the Ballot

People with disabilities face multiple barriers to voting. Physical barriers include inaccessible polling stations (stairs, narrow doorways, no accessible parking). Sensory barriers include ballots that cannot be read by blind or low-vision voters and polling environments that are overwhelming for voters with autism or sensory processing disorders. Cognitive barriers affect voters with intellectual disabilities or dementia who may struggle with complex ballot designs.

An estimated 1 billion people worldwide live with some form of disability. In the US, about 38 million people with disabilities are eligible to vote. A 2020 survey found that voters with disabilities were 27 percent more likely to report difficulty voting than those without disabilities. This gap represents a significant failure of equal access.