Give Us the Ballot

 By Christina Clift

On Tuesday, November 3, 2020 Americans will once again have the opportunity to decide who will lead our country for the next four years by casting their vote.  No matter if you decide to step into a polling booth during early voting or on election day or vote by absentee ballot, you have the right to ensure that it can be done in secret and independently.  

In 1957, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr delivered his speech “Give Us the Ballot” at the Lincoln Memorial which advocated for giving African Americans the right to vote in the United States.  His speech is as relevant today as it was sixty-three years ago.  In recent years voter suppression has become more rampant through passage of voter identification laws, closing polling locations, and by continuing to deny people with disabilities the right to a fully accessible voting process.  

People with disabilities have the same right to cast their ballot independently and in secret, however barriers often prevent us from doing so.  During the August 6th election I visited my local polling location in Millington.  I signed in and notified the polling workers that I would require an audible ballot due to being blind.  They assured me that it would be handled.  Of course, I knew better since almost every time I go to vote it has never gone smoothly and I was not wrong this time.  

Once I inserted my card nobody started speaking in my headphones.  After working with the polling location judge for almost an hour, I still was not able to vote using an audio ballot.  So, I agreed to have sighted assistance.  Since my mother accompanied me to vote herself, she assisted me to cast my ballot.  Luckily, we voted for the same people.  

The polling location judge said, “I knew that you would be coming because you come every election and I made sure we were ready, but I wasn’t expecting it not to work.”

Being denied the right to cast my own ballot myself makes me feel that my vote isn’t important enough to ensure that polling workers receive adequate training on how to set up the machine or program the card.  Thankfully, I am stubborn enough to keep trying but many people aren’t.  They just decide not to vote.  Now more than ever you must vote like your life depends on it because given the COVID-19 pandemic it does.

"Give us the ballot and we will no longer have to worry the federal government about our basic rights ...Give us the ballot and we will no longer plead to the federal government for passage of affordable healthcare laws…...Give us the ballot and we will fill our legislative halls with men and women of good will ...Give us the ballot and we will place judges on the benches of our nation who will do justly and love mercy ...Give us the ballot and we will quietly and nonviolently, without rancor or bitterness, implement ...

Curtis Tillman adds to Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech “The Supreme Court’s Olmstead decision of June 22, 1999 and full implementation of the ADA.”

In a recent move the state of Tennessee provided an accessible method for blind individuals to cast their absentee ballot.  This was made possible by the efforts of advocates from Disability Rights of Tennessee, the National Federation of the Blind, and other advocacy organizations continuously demanding accessibility in voting.  

Now don’t get me wrong the process they put in place isn’t perfect, but it is a good first step.  Currently if you request an accessible absentee ballot, they will send it to you through email.  The ballot is a completable PDF document that blind individuals can fill out using their computer without assistance from anyone.  However, here is where it becomes inaccessible, you have to print and sign your ballot.  This requires sighted assistance.  As a result, your vote is no longer private and can’t be done independently.  It also leaves out people who do not have a computer or internet access.  

Accessibility must be ensured throughout all methods of voting.  Polling stations must be accessible to people who use mobility devices, machines need to be in working order and accessible to people who can not read regular print and adaptable for people who can not reach or touch the screen from a standing position, and absentee voting processes must be made accessible from requesting the ballot, to filling it out, signing it, and sending it back through the mail.  If one of these things are not accessible then voting is not a right that all Americans can exercise.  

Wouldn’t it be great if we could all cast our vote by dialing in and pushing a number for our candidates or to receive an absentee ballot we could do it online and sign it electronically?  Now I know that many people worry about voter fraud, but there has to be a simpler way for us all to vote while ensuring that it is secure from threats and fraud both within and outside our borders.

It will be up to all people with and without disabilities to demand that our government “give us the ballot” and to ensure that no matter who you are that it is an accessible process for all to participate in.  

“So, pack your dinner and maybe a breakfast because the wait might be long…but get out and vote” is a line from former First Lady Michelle Obama’s convention speech given on August 17, 2020.  

As for myself, I will once again return to my polling location and hopefully the promises made by my polling location judge will come true that I will be able to cast my vote in secret and independently in November.  

Just like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. you can demand that the government “give us the ballot” by voting, so make sure that you are registered and know where you can go vote because now more than ever that right is not secure and can be taken away from those in power.  You can call the Shelby County Election Commission at (901) 222-1200 or by visiting govotetn.com.