4th Thursday ADA Talk: ADA and Voting Rights

Escalating Accessibility Battles

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), enacted in 1990, aimed to ensure equal access for disabled individuals, including in voting. Yet 35 years later, in 2025, a surge in restrictive legislation has undermined these protections. States like Texas, Arkansas, and Ohio have imposed limits on assisting disabled voters, such as requiring additional disclosures or notarized proofs, making it harder for those with mobility or vision impairments to cast ballots independently.

Trump's 2025 executive orders targeted mail-in voting, blocking post-Election Day arrivals in federal races, a move courts partially halted but which still threatens disabled voters reliant on postal options due to health risks or inaccessible polling sites. By January 2026, at least 79 restrictive laws from 2021-2024 remain in effect, with 30 expansive measures offering partial counterbalance but falling short in enforcement.

Real-world impacts hit hardest in rural areas or under-resourced communities, where polling place closures since the 2013 Shelby County decision have displaced voters. In 2025, over 5,000 digital accessibility lawsuits highlighted gaps in online registration and ballot access, prompting the Department of Justice's Title II rule mandating WCAG 2.1 compliance by 2026 for state websites—yet compliance costs for local governments could reach millions, delaying implementation.

Stakes include deadlines like Virginia's April 2026 special election on redistricting maps, where inaccessible systems could skew outcomes. Consequences of inaction: disenfranchisement rates for disabled voters, already 10% higher than average in 2020, may rise, with economic ripple effects from excluded voices in policy-making on healthcare and benefits.

Non-obvious tensions arise between stakeholders—advocacy groups push for model bills protecting guardianship rights, while states argue security needs justify restrictions. Surprising data shows bipartisan past support for accessibility, like Reagan's 1984 VAEHA, now eroded by partisan divides. Trade-offs pit fraud prevention claims against evidence that disabled voters face disproportionate hurdles, with low fraud rates failing to justify broad curbs.