Washington, D.C.— Ahead of the midterm elections, the Center for American Progress released a new fact sheet highlighting the persistent barriers facing disabled New Yorkers when it comes to voting in person and accessing election information. Despite recent reforms expanding access to voting by mail, the state continues to lag behind national accessibility benchmarks in several critical areas.
CAP’s Accessible Democracy Tracker gives New York an overall voting accessibility score of 3.0 out of 5, below the national score of 3.3, based on surveys of state and local disability and civic organizations. States were scored on a five-point scale across five areas including voter registration, voting information, in-person voting, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance, and voting by mail.
“I think, with disability and voting, it shouldn’t be so hard, but sometimes it really is, and that bothers me,” said Jermaine, a disabled voter in New York. “I’m an electric wheelchair user. Sometimes, you know, traveling around to a voting place takes a while, or getting there, or the sidewalks are a bit uneven, so I have to always think about those things.”
Key findings include:
- In-person voting remains a major challenge. New York received a score of just 2.5 out of 5 for in-person voting, compared with 3.4 nationally, reflecting barriers related to early voting and accessible transportation.
- Access to election information also lags. The state scored 2.5 for accessible candidate, election, and voter information, compared with 3.1 nationally.
- Voting by mail is a relative strength. New York received a score of 4.1 for voting by mail, exceeding the national score of 3.7. A 2023 law expanded eligibility for early voting by mail to all registered New York voters.
CAP’s Accessible Democracy Tracker will continue to collect survey responses and voter experiences to identify accessibility challenges and track progress across the country.
Read the New York analysis here
Explore CAP’s Accessible Democracy Tracker here.