Voter Registration
RCIL takes great pride in helping to educate people -- with and without disabilities -- about the importance of participating in our government. Public policy impacts us all, and experience tells us that people who vote get listened to by our political leaders when it comes to creating policy and taking action on legislation.
According to the Wisconsin Council on Developmental Disabilities,
- There are over 35 million voting-age persons with disabilities in this country.
- 14 million voting-age people with disabilities are not registered to vote.
- People with disabilities register to vote at a rate that is 16 percentage points less than the rest of the population.
- 75 percent of people with disabilities report they have never been asked to register to vote by a service provider. (Source: 1998 N.O.D./Louis Harris Survey of Americans with Disabilities)
- In the 1996 Presidential election, 30% of people with disabilities of voting age voted; 50% of the voting-age population at large voted.
You can learn more about registering to vote at any of RCIL's locations, or you can go to the NYS Elections "Voting in NY" web site, which contains a variety of easy ways to register to vote, including a downloadable registration form, an online request form, and a toll-free request number (1-800-FOR-VOTE -- that's 1-800-367-8683).
To be eligible to vote in the 2004 elections, you must (as a general guideline) have registered by October 10 (details and exceptions to this can be found at the NYS Elections web site).
You can learn more about the positions and voting records of individual candidates at the League of Women Voters web site.
Please contact RCIL for more information on voter registration.
The importance of accessible voting sites
RCIL strives to raise public awareness and works closely with public officials to make all voting sites accessible to people with disabilities. If you know of a voting site that is not accessible, please contact RCIL and let us know.