1. Disenfranchisement and Voting Opportunity Among People With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
- Author
-
Lineberry, Sarah Nelson and Bogenschutz, Matthew
- Abstract
Objective:In the United States, people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) vote at significantly lower rates than people without disabilities and are underrepresented in the democratic process. This paper examines predictors of voting opportunity among people with IDD receiving state-funded disability services in Virginia. Method:We used secondary data from Virginia’s 2017–2018 and 2018–2019 National Core Indicators In-Person Survey to conduct bivariate and regression analyses on possible predictors of voting opportunity identified from the literature. Results:Factors related to level of intellectual disability were significantly associated with having voting opportunity, as were several factors related to exercising other rights, including participating in the community and in self-advocacy training. Importantly, respondents who had participated in self-advocacy events were more likely to have voting opportunity and people with guardians were less likely to vote or to have had the opportunity. Conclusion:People with legal guardians may be the most likely to be excluded from the democratic process. Social workers and advocates seeking to increase voter turnout should strive to include people with more severe disabilities in self-advocacy events and other efforts to increase voting opportunity among people with IDD.
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF