Voting Laws for the Mentally disabled

[AllentownJake]

My brother is mentally handicapped (autism) and can't read however he could tell you who he wanted to vote for. He wears an Obama pin on his hat. Does the law allow for someone to assist him in voting?

[midnight]

1. This is such an important question.

I have wondered how we occomidate for people like your brother.

[Smarmie Doofus]

2. Not sure. What about via absentee ballot?

You can assist him at home to vote the way he wants.

[Barack_America]

10. PA has been less than kind about that, in the past.

During our primaries this year, many handicapped inaccessible polling locations in Philly were shutdown and consolidated into mega polling locations that were handicap accessible. This was done to circumvent the law that handicapped persons assigned to an inaccessible polling location are automatically eligible for an absentee ballot, and forced the handicapped to come out and vote in person.

This was a huge headache for those of us working on election day to direct people to their proper polling locations and to get them to travel to vote at a new polling location further from their homes.

But I suspect that might not be an issue in the general election considering, well, that for this election the Democratic machine will be on Obama's side, rather than against him.

[democrattotheend]

21. My mom drove a 90-year-old woman with a broken hip to her polling place

She wasn't planning to vote until my mom came by because she did not think she'd be able to. Kind of sad...I think she said it was the first time she'd left her home in years.

[PCIntern]

3. Thought you were referring to the buchanan wing of the r-party

sorry...

My hygienist will be faced with autistic son reaching the age of majority as well.

[Debi]

4. I wonder if the voting laws are based on whether or not a person is deemed

mentally competent/incompetent in court.

(Has a guardianship or conservatorship been established involuntarily for the individual?)

There must be a guideline set up somewhere for determining whether a person is legally competent to be able to vote.

[undeterred]

12. A person is able to vote unless a judge rules them incompetent.

However, I'm not sure how the situation actually comes up.

The thing I would worry about most is having a third party request an absentee ballot for someone who is not competent (imagine comatose, even) and then filling it out.

[Barack_America]

5. Absolutely. Pennsylvania law does allow for this.

There's even that section at the bottom of the registration form where you can mark that the voter "Requires assistance" and then specify why.

You're in Lehigh, right?

The number for the board of elections there is [phone].

Assuming, of course, that your brother lives near you?

ETA: Furthermore, I'll add that a mentally disabled woman works my polling location with her parents and also votes.

And there was also that youtube video a while back about that Philadelphia man with Down's syndrome and how he would be voting for Obama. (I believe his brother filmed it).

[goldcanyonaz]

7. I just posted the link to this below

[goldcanyonaz]

6. HERE for your state;

Provisions for Voters with Disabilities

Any voter who requires assistance to vote by reason of blindness, disability, or inability to read or write may be given assistance by a person of the voter’s choice, other than the voter’s employer or agent of that employer or officer or agent of the voter’s union. http://www.vote411.org/bystateresult.php?state=PA

[cornermouse]

8. It may vary from state to state. I don't know.

It is possible that if he has a legal guardian that this question was asked of his legal guardian and he may not have the right to vote.

Setting that aside for the moment, I would question the thinking that would allow a person to put their handicapped sibling in a voting booth with "help" to vote. That is something that could be all too easily misused. I would oppose it strongly.

[goldcanyonaz]

9. vote 411 dot org has voting information on all 50 states

[cornermouse]

11. Call me squeamish, but there is no way

I would use someone I love as a puppet to cast a vote. The end does not justify the means.

[AllentownJake]

15. My brother

is very aware of the political candidates and who they are. He hates George Bush and John McCain (he changes the channel whenever they are on). What his reasons are I do not know since he isn't influenced by me. Could be a 6th sense of evil.

Seeing how funding for programs that support him are determined by public policy (Medicare, Work Programs, civil rights etc) that have a federal component this election effects him far more than most of us.

I myself would not go to the polls with him

1) Because I'll be very busy that day on Get out the Vote efforts. Probably so busy that finding time to vote myself will be difficult judging by my experience in the primaries

2) I'm biased. One of the people who is an aid that works with him is who I would expect to assist him.

[cornermouse]

16. Since he's mentally disabled, you can't be sure

he isn't doing it because it is the expected norm in his world. My experience is that hatred tends to usually be a foreign concept in the disabled that is implanted when the disabled individual copies what he thinks is expected from those around him; in other words, he's copying your attitudes, beliefs, and mannerisms. You might not think that you're influencing him but the fact is, you are.

Sending him with someone else would leave him open to manipulation by someone with less than honorable intentions.

I'm sorry. This is wrong. There's no other way that I can put it.

[AllentownJake]

17. My brother hated Bush in 2000

When my Repuke father and mother were in love with him. If he was parrotting than he would have parrotted love for Bush than.

If he says I want to vote for Barack...he can speak and vocalize than having someone go in. Hell I don't care if it is a poll worker and push that button for him I see no issue with it. Hell my brother is making about as much of an informed decision as the assholes who vote on who they would like to have a "beer" with.

If someone is paralyzed from the neck down and can't physically push a button do we discriminate against them as well.

[cornermouse]

18. There is a difference between a physical disability

such as quadriplegia and a mental disability. I shouldn't have to tell you that.

You're using your brother for a political objective. That is wrong.

[AllentownJake]

19. 50 years ago

I do remember there being literacy test in this country. I can't remember who that benefited.

[DebJ]

20. Her brother needs to vote for someone who will protect his

interests . . . health care, housing assistance, etc. The choice is very, very clear here.

[Oak2004]

22. Your "experience" is wrong

If it were somehow impossible for disabled people to make up their own minds, or to be angry about anything, there would never have been the rise of a developmental disability rights movement that actively advocates against the wishes of caregivers.

Tell me this is the result of a caregiver manipulating the filmmaker:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnylM1hI2jc

And don't tell me the filmmaker is faking it: she's a close friend of mine.

Oh, and bonus points if you can guess her screen name on DU. She occasionally posts here, at least when she isn't too disgusted by the persistent attitude expressed by many DU "progressives" that disabled people are some sort of dependent subhuman species of questionable worth (yeah, I've seen this sort of patronization and contempt expressed about people with physical disabilities, too).

I do have some idea where you might have gotten your ideas about people with developmental disabilities. One of the tactics people who are in institutions use to survive in institutions (and yes, places like group homes and special ed are institutions -- it's not the shape of the building, but the power relationships, that make an institution) is to pretend to be completely compliant around their captors/caregivers. Submissive behavior is rewarded in such settings, and assertive behavior -- even seemingly trivial sorts of assertive behavior, such as food preferences -- is penalized. Away from the people who control them, among themselves and among non-disabled and diferently disabled people they trust, people with developmental disabilities act like people, not like submissive subjects. You're someone they've seen as a dominator. So all you've ever seen is feigned compliance.

[cornermouse]

25. Silentmiaow is to be congratulated in overcoming

barriers in ways that are not immediately apparent to a casual onlooker. Her thought processes are complex and it's wonderful that she has a computer that she can use to verbalize what's in her head. This is not a surprise to me. I've always known that there was more thinking and understanding going on than was apparent but the barrier to "feedback" or responding is difficult to surmount and not everyone is able to do so. We should also consider the fact that Silentmiaow is not typical in her disability.


You want to consider me a control freak? Go right ahead. I'll chalk that up in the same column (titled incorrect) as where you thought I had "gotten my ideas". We had to fight the school system at the time which wanted to place my child in their version of separate schooling. Would you like to hear the details of what we found out about the level of education the institution was providing? Eventually, we had to move away from the school district but before we went, we made a lot of noise about it. My experience and my position on this remains the same.

[pop goes the weasel]

13. I think exact rules depend on the state

but the answer, in general, is that he is allowed assistance.

Here's New Jersey's rules in pdf format, and a rather vague explanation of the general Ohio rights of those with mental disabilities, to give you an idea.

Your state attorney general's office will be able to tell you how the law is specifically implemented where you live.

[papapi]

14. Considering the statistics on mental disorders it would be difficult...

to limit someone's right to vote on this issue.

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/the-numbers-count-mental-disorders-in-america.shtml

[grantcart]

23. If they let me vote then they definitely should let your brother vote

[loyalsister]

24. It depends on the state

In my state, the only things that would prevent a person from having a right to vote are
They are under 18
They have been convicted of a crime related to election tampering.
They are in prison.
They are still serving out the parole following conviction of a felony.
They are under guardianship

Otherwise, the right to vote is paramount.