Statewide Effort Urging People with Disabilities to Vote is Launched

Connecticut’s Office of Protection and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities is launching a three-week effort urging persons with disabilities to vote this year. The initiative will highlight a new video, which features 10 state residents with various disabilities emphatically stating their intention to vote.

The video promoting voting has been added to the website of the Office of Protection and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities and is available to organizations in Connecticut that work with the disability community. It will also be featured on the State of Connecticut website, and will be seen on local television and news websites.

Individuals appearing in the video include Michael Adamczyk of Ansonia; Chris Blake of Wallingford; Ralph Rodriguez, Maryann Guerra, and Evelyn Santiago of East Hartford; Nyema Pinkney, Cathy Ludlum and Michelle Johnson of Manchester; Kathy Flaherty of Newington; and Malachi Mouning of Granby.

“I have a disability and I vote,” the individuals on the video proclaim, stressing, “You have a voice, use it!”

“The law requires that every registered voter have an opportunity to vote independently and in privacy at a polling place, regardless of disability,” said Gretchen Knauff, of the Office of Protection and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities. “This video reminds individuals with disabilities all across our state that their voting rights are no different than other citizens, and we urge them to exercise their civic responsibility, and vote.”

Knauff also indicated that Registrars of Voters have been provided with handbooks for poll workers in communities throughout the state to guide them in understanding how to assist voters with disabilities.

The video can be seen at http://www.ct.gov/opapd/cwp/view.asp?a=1759&q=502408 and on You Tube at https://youtu.be/ABv5ISmjCQM