1. Voting Rights of People with Mental Disabilities
Jennifer Mathis, Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
Maya Abela, Arizona Center for Disability Law

2. How People are Disenfranchised
State Voter Capacity Standards
In Law
In Practice
Photo ID Laws

3. State Laws: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

4. The Ugly
No voting by:
Idiots
insane people
lunatics

5. The Bad No voting by: People under guardianship
People who are incapacitated

6. The Somewhat Less Bad No voting by: Default may be:
People under guardianship who lack the capacity to vote
People adjudicated to lack the capacity to understand the act of voting
Default may be:
Keeping the right to vote
Losing the right to vote (eg Arizona)

7. The Better A person can vote if:
He or she can communicate, with or without accommodations, a choice whether to participate in the voting process
Maryland
Nevada
California

8. The Good No capacity requirement! Colorado Michigan:
Idaho constitution permits
Illinois legislature to impose
Indiana but legislature has not
Kansas
New Hampshire
North Carolina Maine:
Pennsylvania election officials
Vermont instructed to disregard reqt

9. Practices
Regardless of what state laws provide, people with disabilities may be denied voting opportunities by:
Service providers (eg nursing homes, group homes, hospitals)
Election officials
Poll workers

10. Advocacy: Training and Information Dissemination
Getting out “know your voting rights” information and strategic steps to maximize dissemination
Collecting information about how voter competence standards are being implemented
Approaching election officials ahead of time to discuss how they will prevent disenfranchisement

11. Advocating in Guardianship Proceedings
What is the default?
What is the standard?
How is it applied?
Getting declarations of support where necessary
Bazelon’s model advocacy package

12. Federal Litigation Best challenges Identifying plaintiffs Setting up
Potential obstacles

13. State-Level Legislative Advocacy
Considerations
Success stories
Other stories