Advocacy groups are making sure they have enough staff and volunteers on hand to transport people with developmental disabilities to the polls today.
For Go-Getters Inc., transportation is especially crucial because of the rural areas where most of their clients live.
“Few of my clients have their own wheels, and public transportation is a novel idea, but it’s not possible in rural areas,” said Richard Bearman, executive director of Go-Getters, a psychiatric rehabilitation program for people with mental illnesses in counties along the Eastern Shore. Go-Getters has a “fleet” of vans and cars to take people to the polls.
Many advocacy groups have had events to register their members to vote and practice using voting machines. Bearman said about 90 percent of the Go-Getters members are registered to vote.
Some groups also have held or transported people to forums so they could hear about the presidential candidates and their issues.
The Arc of Baltimore, which provides services for people with developmental disabilities, had members attend a voter registration drive in Cecil County where attendees practiced using voting machines like the ones in Baltimore County and Baltimore City.
But the issue of transportation is the biggest obstacle for enabling a person with developmental disabilities to vote, said Jerry Bullinger, assistant executive director for Arc.
Another issue some are concerned about is staff members helping people with developmental disabilities in the polling booths.
Bullinger, for example, helped a man who had an unsteady hand use a touch screen on a recent Election Day, but he said Arc’s policy is for staff members to be nonpartisan.
Another question Bullinger receives is how people with developmental disabilities can vote, to which he answers they learn about issues the same way everyone else does — through television and radio and talking to the people around them.
Maryland law only prohibits the right to vote for a person under care or guardianship for mental disability, which Alyssa Fieo, director of legal advocacy for the Maryland Disability Law Center, said can keep some people from voting.
“We wish Maryland law clarified the issue of guardianship,” Fieo said. “It’s overly broad and excludes folks who might otherwise be capable to vote.”
