A national organization focused on expanding voting rights for people with disabilities is opening a chapter in Alabama.
Register, Educate, Vote, Use Your Power (REV UP) is a movement organized by the American Association of People with Disabilities, a nonpartisan organization founded by disability advocates in Texas in 2016 that now has chapters in 20 states.
“This is a movement for voting rights for people with disabilities,” Katie Toro, a peer advocate with the Disability Resource Network in Huntsville and one of the leaders of REV UP AL, said at the movement’s inaugural press conference at the state Capitol on Thursday. “But it comes with all kinds of barriers that are put up against us: transportation, health care, education, everyday life.”
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According to a REV UP news release, approximately 38 million people with disabilities are registered to vote, but their turnout is lower than the overall electorate.
REV UP leaders speak to reporters about the organization at the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery, Alabama, Thursday, April 18, 2024. (Ralph Chapoco/Alabama Reflector)
According to the Election Assistance Commission (EAC), a federal agency that provides information on election administration, the voter turnout rate for people without disabilities in the 2022 midterm elections was approximately 52.4%, while the voter turnout rate for people with disabilities was 50.9%.
In Alabama, voter turnout for people without disabilities was approximately 51.1% in the 2018 election, compared to 48.2% for people with disabilities. In 2022, voter turnout for Alabamians without disabilities was 45.6%, compared to 44.4% for people with disabilities.
Reasons for this gap include access to absentee voting, specifically whether ballots can be mailed and whether you must provide a reason to vote absentee. In Alabama, people with illnesses or disabilities can vote absentee, but they must declare that fact and have two witnesses sign an affidavit.
All of the speakers at the press conference have some kind of disability and spoke about the barriers they face when it comes to voting.
“Sometimes I would go to vote and the handicapped parking spaces would be blocked,” Toro said. “I couldn’t even park my car in a parking space and go to vote. I remember the first time I voted when I was 20 years old, I was made to sit at a table in the middle of the room with no privacy whatsoever.”
Barbara Manuel, president of the Alabama chapter of the National Federation of the Blind, said there are “a lot of barriers” to voting, even with accessible voting machines.
“Most of the time, we visit some of these places and the workers don’t know how to operate the machines,” Manuel said. “Usually the machines are not even turned on and are hidden in a corner somewhere.”
The group will provide training on how to organize and network, and one of its initial goals is to urge lawmakers to support legislation that would give people with disabilities the opportunity to vote absentee.
“The REV UP Alabama Coalition will provide a much-needed, powerful voice to advocate for the accessibility and voting rights concerns of Alabamians with disabilities,” Cathy Jones, president of the League of Women Voters of Alabama, said in a statement announcing the group’s formation.
The organization was formed after the Alabama Legislature passed SB 1, a bill introduced by Sen. Garlan Gudger (R-Cullman) that would have criminalized some forms of voting assistance. The bill passed with overwhelming Republican support, but Democrats largely opposed its passage.
HB 207, introduced by Democratic Rep. Adline Clark of Mobile, would allow voters with disabilities to designate someone to deliver their absentee ballot application to absentee ballot officials. The bill would also allow voters with disabilities to designate someone to deliver the absentee ballot itself to election officials.
However, the bill has not yet made it out of committee. It would take four legislative days to pass. Tuesday marks the 24th day of the 2024 legislative session, which has a maximum of 30 legislative days in a 105-day calendar period.