# Disability Rights and Access to the Ballot #### calendar\_today Date and Time **October 31, 2024** 12:15PM - 01:30PM EDT #### pin\_drop Location **Singer Classroom (WCC B010)** 4 Holmes Hall 18 Everett Street Cambridge, MA 02138 HPOD is co-hosting a lunch panel event on disability rights and access to the ballot on **October 31, 2024, from 12:15 to 1:30 PM in the Singer Classroom (WCC B010)**, together with the [**Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review**](https://journals.law.harvard.edu/crcl/), the [**Harvard Disabled Law Students Association**](https://orgs.law.harvard.edu/dlsa/), and the [**Equal Democracy Project at HLS**](https://orgs.law.harvard.edu/equaldemocracy/). Professor [**Michael Ashley Stein**](https://hpod.law.harvard.edu/about/bio/stein), HPOD's co-founder and Executive Director, will moderate this timely discussion featuring panelists [**Tatum A. Pritchard**](https://www.dlc-ma.org/tatum-pritchard/), Director of Litigation at the Disability Law Center; [**Rebecca Williford**](https://dralegal.org/staff-members/rebecca-williford/), President & CEO of Disability Rights Advocates; and **Elizabeth Westfall**, Deputy Chief of the DOJ Civil Rights Division, [**Disability Rights Section**](https://www.justice.gov/crt/disability-rights-section-news?search_api_fulltext=voters&start_date=&end_date=&sort_by=field_date). Each election cycle, persons with disabilities must navigate a maze of obstacles to cast their ballots, from barriers to accessing [**electronic ballots**](https://www.dlc-ma.org/2021/09/10/settlement-reached-for-accessible-voting/), to [**paper absentee ballots**](https://dralegal.org/case/north-carolina-council-of-the-blind-v-north-carolina-state-board-of-elections/) and [**election information**](https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-finds-multiple-texas-county-election-websites-inaccessible-people). Following the 2020 general election, many states enacted restrictive measures that infringe on voters with disabilities' right to assistance in casting their vote. For example, in 2021 Texas passed Senate Bill 1 (S.B. 1), which prevented voter assistants from providing certain kinds of support, such as [**answering a voter’s questions, explaining the voting process, or paraphrasing complex language**](https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1446536/dl). The [**Western District of Texas later struck down these provisions**](https://www.aaldef.org/press-release/federal-court-order-strikes-down-texas-law-restricting-assistance-for-limited-english-speaking-and-disabled-voters-again/) for violating the federal Voting Rights Act, as well as the terms of a 2018 injunction. Earlier this month, [**the Western District ruled on S.B. 1 again**](https://www.naacpldf.org/press-release/federal-court-strikes-down-restrictive-suppressive-texas-voting-measures-in-s-b-1-that-limited-voting-assistance/), enjoining Texas from enforcing additional provisions that restrict voters with disabilities' ballot access and expose voter assistants to criminal liability. The continuing fight against state voting restrictions only underscores the critical need for vigilance by disability rights advocates to uphold core voting protections. Such [**barriers to political participation**](https://academic.oup.com/jhrp/article/6/1/115/2191084) are only compounded by restrictions on ballot access for [**persons with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities subject to guardianship orders**](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/29/us/guardianship-voting-rights-disabilities.html). As **Professor Stein** and HPOD's Director of Advocacy Initiatives, [**Hezzy Smith**](https://hpod.law.harvard.edu/about/bio/hezzy-smith), wrote together with HPOD Associate [**János Fiala-Butora**](https://hpod.law.harvard.edu/https://hpod.law.harvard.edu/about/affiliates), protections against the [**disenfranchisement of voters with disabilities subject to guardianship orders**](https://real.mtak.hu/131462/1/Fiala-ButoraetalStrobyeandRosenlindvDenmarkEHRLR2021.pdf) have eroded in recent European Court of Human Rights cases, as well as [**other forms of ballot access protections**](https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/fre#{%22itemid%22:[%22001-212693%22]}). Thus, [**disability cause lawyers have a primary role to play**](https://www.elgaronline.com/edcollchap/book/9781035314140/book-part-9781035314140-11.xml) in safeguarding all persons with disabilities' full and effective political participation both in the United States and abroad. Lunch will be provided. Share on:- [ Facebook ](#) - [ Twitter ](#) - [ Linkedin ](#) Save: [ Add to calendar calendar\_today ](https://accessibility.harvard.edu/node/1544741/event-feed.ics) Copy link link