• Home
  • News
    • Politics & Government
    • Business & Economy
    • Crime / Courts
    • Health / Medicine
  • Sports
    • High School Sports
    • Radio Iowa Poll
  • Affiliates
    • Affiliate Support Page
  • Contact Us
    • Reporters

Radio Iowa

Iowa's Radio News Network

You are here: Home / Human Interest / Iowans with disabilities urged to register to vote

Iowans with disabilities urged to register to vote

July 15, 2016 By Matt Kelley

Handicapped-Parking-SignSome 315,000 Iowans who are of voting age also have a disability. With the national political conventions starting next week, Iowans with disabilities are being urged to register to vote.

Rik Shannon, project manager for the group Iowans with Disabilities in Action, says there’s a disparity between Iowans who vote and Iowans with disabilities who vote.

“In the last presidential election in 2012, that gap between the rate at which voters with and without disabilities turned out was about 5.7%,” Shannon says. “It was even a little higher in Iowa, up to about 6.3%.” According to research from Rutgers University, had people with disabilities voted in the same numbers as able-bodied people in the last presidential race, another ten-million votes would have been cast.

This is National Disability Voter Registration Week and Shannon says he wants to make sure the voices of Iowans with disabilities will be heard at the polls in November.

“We’re really hoping to use this campaign to raise awareness of people with disabilities about the importance of engaging in the 2016 election,” Shannon says. “Getting them registered to vote is just the first step in becoming a voter.”

Iowa does offer same-day voter registration, meaning, people can register at their polling places on Election Day, but Shannon says people should sign up now instead. “It eliminates some of the hassles and some of the time that it takes to register on Election Day,” Shannon says. “You do have to jump through a couple of extra hoops. People may have some difficulty producing the proper identification or proof of residence. That’s a whole lot easier to do if you register early.”

You can register to vote at the Iowa Secretary of State’s website: sos.iowa.gov. Iowans can also register at county auditors’ offices, driver’s license stations, DHS offices and other state agencies serving people with disabilities.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Filed Under: Human Interest, News

Featured Stories

Governor Reynolds touts 2024 Iowa Caucuses in Inaugural Address

University of Iowa grad presiding over U.S. House Speaker vote

Iowan who was oldest person in the U.S. dies

Iowa Lottery to start making some payments via debit cards

State liquor sales appear to have returned to pre-pandemic level

TwitterFacebook
Tweets by RadioIowa

No. 2 Iowa visits No. 1 Penn State in wrestling dual Friday night

Iowa’s Clark brings increased exposure to women’s basketball

No. 18 Iowa State women visit TCU

Northern Iowa men host Valparaiso

No. 12 Iowa State hosts No. 5 Kansas State

More Sports

Archives

Copyright © 2023 ยท Learfield News & Ag, LLC