On October 17, 2019, Michelle Bishop, NDRN’s Disability Voting Rights Specialist, testified during a Committee on House Administration Subcommittee on Elections hearing entitled “Voting Rights and Election Administration in America”.
Below is a video edit with just Michelle’s testimony and responses to committee member questions. A recording of the entire length of the hearing is also available.
Bishop spoke about voters with disabilities, polling place accessibly, polling place closures and voter participation of people with disabilities in her testimony and called for Congress to pass legislation that would restore the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the need for the Federal government to ensure that voters with disabilities have equal access to America’s electoral system by enforcing the laws that protect the rights of people with disabilities including the Voting Rights Act, Americans with Disabilities Act and the Help America Vote Act.
“These laws must be enforced to their full capacity in order to ensure that America’s polling places and electoral systems, as a whole, are accessible to all eligible voters. America’s democracy is only as strong as its ability to hear the voices of all Americans,” said Bishop.
Fellow esteemed witnesses testified about the current state of voting rights in our country, the discrimination and suppression that currently exists across the US, and the need to restore the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by passing legislation such as H.R. 4 the Voting Rights Advancement Act in order to fully protect all voters.
The list of witnesses and their written testimony is available on the Committee on House Administration website.
On November 13, 2019, Chairperson Marcia L. Fudge (D-Ohio) of the Subcommittee on Elections of the Committee on House Administration released a report on Voting Rights and Elections Administration in the United States of America. Excerpts from Michelle’s testimony are included on pages 116-117 of the report.
