Make Politicians Take You Seriously: Get Out and Vote!

One thing I have learned through my disability voting rights activism is this: Politicians judge the political power of a sector of the population not only by how much money they contribute to their campaigns, but also by the percentage of its members who get out and vote.

Despite last year's election, many people feel, "why bother-the rich can always buy and steal elections". However, elected officials are watching and taking note of who votes for them. Notice how they refer to groups of people - the senior vote, the African American vote, the Hispanic vote, the Business Community vote, the Women's vote. Politicians know that these groups not only get out and vote, but they bring in votes through organizing.

Have you ever heard of any references to the Poor vote, the Homeless vote, the Disability vote? Of course not! These folks are often disenfranchised, and because they are busy attending to getting basic necessities and civil rights, voting is a low priority for them.

The disability community understands this, and is fighting for physical access to polling places and accessible voting machines. Some disability organizations have developed get out the vote campaigns. Others are helping people with disabilities to participate in the political process by training them to be poll workers, election judges, and polling site observers. In 1992, I was the first person with a disability to serve as an election judge for the City and County of Denver. While in Washington, DC, I trained poll workers, technicians, and precinct captains on polling place and voting access, and appropriate interactions with voters with disabilities.

Some folks with disabilities have joined, or founded political organizations. A few have run for public office. Still, we must continue to organize among ourselves so that we consistently vote en masse at polling places in our neighborhoods. We must keep abreast of the doings of elected officials by watching how they vote on legislation that affects us. We must engage them by educating them about our issues, and not let them get away with supporting legislation, policies, and practices that harm our community.

Our destiny is in our hands. It's up to us to put on our sturdy shoes, rubber tips, and no-flat tires, and walk and wheel down that long hard road to the day when politicians see us as a powerful constituency and actively seek our vote.