Explainer: Accessible Absentee Voting in NYS

New York state generally offers voting with absentee ballots, but for those with print disabilities (i.e., people who are blind or people who have dyslexia), New York’s absentee ballots are not as accessible as they could be. This is because they do not allow a voter with a print-related disability to vote independently and privately.

In this blog post, Joe Zesski from the Northeast ADA Center, which is housed in the Yang-Tan Institute in the ILR School, discusses a recent settlement agreement between the New York State Board of Elections and various plaintiffs. The agreement is aimed at improving the accessibility of absentee ballots. In this post, Joe contextualizes the settlement, describing who will benefit from it, how it relates to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and how technology changes the game for providing absentee ballots to voters with print disabilities.