DRC - Voting Access

HAVA Videos

Disability Rights Center has made available videos related to the Help America Vote Act. All users are invited to view these short videos free of charge at any time on Google Video. They are:

Educating Poll Workers - This video is designed to educate poll workers and others on how to interact with citizens with disabilities by using general examples. Includes open captioning.
Introducing the ES&S iVotronic - This video introduces the viewer to the ES&S iVotronic touch screen voting system.
What is HAVA? - This video introduces the viewer to the Help Americans Vote Act of 2002. Includes open captioning.
^New! Take a look at our new voting and disabilities commercial entitled "Make Your Vote Count!"

HAVA Complaint Procedure

Click on the following link to connect to the Arkansas State Board of Election Commissioner's Rules for Help American Vote Act Administrative Complaint Procedure (pdf). These rules set forth the procedure for providing resolution of any complaint alleging a violation of any provision of Title III of the Help American Vote Act of 2002, including a violation that has occurred, is occurring, or is about to occur.

Arkansas Voting Overview Online

The State of Arkansas has assembled a very informative web page that tells All About Voting in the Natural State, and describes your registration and identification requirements, where to vote, answers frequently asked questions, and provides PDF copies of the state and national registration forms in both English and Spanish.

http://www.votenaturally.org/where_when_how_vote.html

Pocket Guide to Voting Available

The 2008 edition of "Voting 101, A Pocket Guide to Voting in the Natural State" published by Secretary of State, Charlie Daniels, to clarify various myths and uncertainties about the voting process is now available online in PDF format. Copies of the Guide are also available by contacting DRC and asking for it by name.

Feel the Power/Vote T-Shirt Available

Now you can feel the power of voting, and help DRC too, by ordering your Feel the Power / Vote t-shirt online. It comes in 6.1 oz. 100% preshrunk cotton jersey fabric with a seamless collar, durable double-stitched seams and bottom hem, and it's available in 16 colors, plus white, in sizes from Kids XS up to Adults XL (larger sizes are a little more). Only $20 plus shipping. Profits from the sale of this merchandise go to the Disability Rights Center. Click Here to Order Yours!

ACCESS TO VOTING POCKET GUIDE

The Access to Voting Pocket Guide depicts the most common sign language "signs" used in a voting environment, and provides tips to effectively communicate with voters with disabilities. This includes disability etiquette tips, and a polling place accessibility checklist. Click Here to Order Yours!

Voting Accessibility News

There's An App For That

April 12, 2010: Charlie Daniels, Arkansas secretary of state announced the debut of a mobile application that allows voters to verify their registration information and learn their district and polling place information.

VoterView Mobile, the first application of its kind in the country, is accessible from all smartphone operating platforms including iPhone, Google Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile and Palm at www.sos.ar.gov/m. To verify a registration, a voter enters their name and date of birth. If the voter is registered, the application displays the voter's address and districts. It also shows where to vote and polling place hours, as well as the county clerk's contact information.

In preparation for the May 18 primary, Daniels is doing radio and television interviews to promote VoterView Mobile, Janet Harris, deputy secretary of state said. They're also promoting the site on Daniels' Facebook and Twitter as well as their voting information site, VoteNaturally.org.

VoterView Mobile was created by the Information Network of Arkansas, a collaboration between the state of Arkansas and Arkansas Information Consortium.

On the Air

October 31, 2008: KUAR radio runs story on voters with disabilities in Arkansas including interviews with DRC staff. To listen to the interview please visit:

VA Welcomes Voter Registration

The Veterans Administration clarifies its policy on assisting veterans' voter registration activities to "welcome state and local election officials and non-partisian groups to it hospitals and outpatient clinics to assist VA officials in registering voters at VA facilities." Read more »

The Secretary of State has completed the ballot issue petition verification process, Proposed Constitutional Amendment No. 1 states:

Proposed Constitutional Amendment No. 1
(Referred to the People by the General Assembly)

(Popular Name)

AN AMENDMENT CONCERNING VOTING, QUALIFICATIONS OF VOTERS AND ELECTION OFFICERS, AND THE TIME OF HOLDING GENERAL ELECTIONS.

(Ballot Title)

AMENDING VARIOUS PROVISIONS OF THE ARKANSAS CONSTITUTION CONCERNING VOTING AND ELECTIONS; PROVIDING THAT ALL PERSONS MAY VOTE WHO ARE CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES, RESIDENTS OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS, AT LEAST EIGHTEEN (18) YEARS OF AGE, AND LAWFULLY REGISTERED TO VOTE; TO REPEAL THE REQUIREMENT THAT THE RIGHT TO VOTE SHALL NOT BE MADE TO DEPEND ON ANY PREVIOUS REGISTRATION OF AN ELECTOR’S NAME REPEALING ARTICLE 3, SECTION 5 OF THE ARKANSAS CONSTITUTION PROVIDING THAT NO IDIOT OR INSANE PERSON SHALL BE ENTITLED TO THE PRIVILEGES OF AN ELECTOR; AND PERMITTING THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY TO ESTABLISH THE DATE AND TIME OF ELECTIONS AND THE QUALIFICATIONS OF ELECTION OFFICERS.

Green Light Given to Voter ID Laws

The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld Indiana's controversial voter ID law, which critics say will discourage people with disabilities, the poor, the elderly and minorities from casting ballots. The law requires voters to present current government-issued photo identification. For those who cannot, it established a procedure for validating votes after an election. "This opinion will be read as a green light for the enactment of more partisan election laws in an attempt to skew outcomes in close elections," wrote Richard Hasen, a professor at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, on his widely read Election Law Blog. Hasen wrote a brief on the side of challengers to the law. To read the Courts full opinion click this link.

Disability Rights Center Finds Many Polling Sites in Pulaski County Still Not Accessible to Voters with Disabilities

DRC conducted ADA polling site surveys in Pulaski County during the Presidential Preferential Primary Early Voting January 29 thru February 4, 2008, and on Super Tuesday, February 5, 2008. We documented numerous barriers at most of the polling sites surveyed which would hinder access for voters with disabilities. DRC then sent a letter to the Pulaski County Election Commission with our survey results and requested that the barriers be removed before the elections in May 2008. To read the letter DRC sent to the Pulaski County Election Commission and review the survey results, click here (pdf).

Voting Access