Over 450,000 Eligible Voters in Louisiana with Disabilities Did Not Vote in 2000

(Washington, DC) The McMains Children's Developmental Center, Baton Rouges local United Cerebral Palsy affiliate, and Rock the Vote have partnered to register people with disabilities and their families to vote. Visitors to DontBlockMyVote.org can now use an online voter registration tool to register to vote in Louisiana. Voter registration forms can also be picked up at the McMains Children's Developmental Center at 1805 College Drive.

According to the 2000 National Organization on Disability/Harris Survey, Americans with disabilities are significantly less likely to be registered to vote than other Americans. In Louisiana alone, approximately 57% of eligible voters with disabilities did not participate in the 2000 election.

With the new online registration tool, the McMains Children's Developmental Center and Rock the Vote will help empower hundreds of people in Louisiana with disabilities and their families to take part in the political process for the first time, said MCDC Executive Director Janet Ketcham.

The national DontBlockMyVote.org campaign also aims to help people in Louisiana with disabilities gain access to the polls by urging Members of Congress to fully fund the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA).

HAVA requires states to provide at least one accessible voting machine at each polling place. The legislation also sets aside funding for polling place accommodations, outreach programs, training for election officials, and technology research grants. Congress has yet to back up HAVA with appropriate funding, effectively denying tens of thousands of people in Louisiana with disabilities equal access to the ballot.

By logging on to DontBlockMyVote.org activists can send a free letter to their Members of Congress asking them to fully fund HAVA and provide all Americans equal access to the polls. Congress is currently negotiating the 2005 budget.

Too many people in Louisiana can not exercise their constitutional right to vote because many polling places are too often inaccessible to people who use wheelchairs, voting machines are inaccessible to people who are blind or have limited use of their hands, and ballots are inaccessible to people with limited literacy skills, added Janet Ketcham.