Rep. Ruben Gallego Introduces Legislation to Improve Ballot Access for Voters with Disabilities
WASHINGTON DC –Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) introduced the PAVA Inclusion Act yesterday to ensure full participation in the electoral process for voters with disabilities.
The PAVA program funds measures aimed at increasing access to the polls for voters facing mobility and other challenges, including disability training for poll workers, maintaining voting hotlines, and examining polling places for accessibility. However, when the program was enacted as part of the Help America Vote Act of 2002, the definition of "eligible grantee" erroneously left out Protection and Advocacy Systems serving the Northern Mariana Islands and the four corners area of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah. As a result, they are not eligible for PAVA funding unlike every other Protection and Advocacy System in the United States. Rep. Gallego's PAVA Inclusion Act fixes this oversight and improves access to the ballot for voters with disabilities in the Northern Mariana Islands as well as the four corners region.
"Every American citizen's right to vote is sacred. Voters with disabilities, no matter where they live, have a right to access this most fundamental American right," said Rep. Ruben Gallego. "That is why I am proud to introduce the PAVA Inclusion Act to ensure that voters with disabilities residing in the Northern Mariana Islands as well as some of the most rural parts of Indian Country can access the ballot. This legislative fix is long overdue, and I look forward to it becoming law."
"National Disability Rights Network (NDRN) applauds Representative Gallego for introducing legislation that would provide a long overdue technical fix to the Help America Vote Act by extending Protection and Advocacy for Voter Access (PAVA) program funding to the only two P&As excluded from the program since 2002. It was always the intent for all 57 P&As to be able to ensure that people with disabilities have the same opportunity to participate in every step of the voting process across the United States. With this legislation we are one step closer to safeguarding the right to vote for all Americans including Native Americans with disabilities in the Four Corners region and Pacific Islanders with disabilities in Northern Mariana Islands," said NDRN Executive Director Curt Decker.
Original cosponsors of the legislation are Rep. Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan (MP), Rep. Tom O'Halleran (AZ-01), Rep. Ben Ray Luján (NM-03), Rep. Scott R. Tipton (CO-03), Rep. Deb Haaland (NM-01), and Rep. Greg Stanton (AZ-09).
Rep. Gallego serves as Chair of the Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the United States.