Summary: <p>There are still a lot of barriers to voting, and when we’re thinking about access to voting, it should be easier for every voter to cast a ballot. </p> <p>According to the CDC, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/infographic-disability-impacts-all.html">about 1 in 4 adults</a> in the U.S. live with some type of disability: nearly 61 million people. When it comes time to cast their ballots, voters with disabilities can face a number of challenges at the polls. For in-person voters in the 2016 election, the Government Accountability Office found that <a href="https://www.ndrn.org/resource/government-study-finds-majority-of-u-s-polling-places-not-accessible-to-people-with-disabilities/">less than half of polling places</a> were accessible from parking to the voting booth.</p> <p>Accessibility increased in 2020, and <a href="https://www.eac.gov/news/2021/07/07/new-data-177-million-americans-disabilities-voted-2020-significant-increase-over">people with disabilities made large gains</a> in the historic voter turnout surge of 2020. Expanded access to mail-in ballots pushed disability turnout to 17.7 million in 2020, up from 16 million in 2016, according to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.</p> <p>We spoke with <a href="https://twitter.com/michellevotes?lang=en">Michelle Bishop</a>, Voter Access & Engagement Manager at the National Disability Rights Network, and Michelle explained how the steps taken during the 2020 presidential election and against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, lowered some of those barriers and helped make it safer to cast a ballot for all voters, including voters who have a disability.</p>
