While Rhode Island is the 35th state to adopt online voter registration, its law is the first in the country to establish detailed assurances that voters with disabilities will have full access to this online process.
Without such assurances, people who are, for example, blind or visually impaired or who have disabilities preventing them from using a mouse or keyboard would likely face difficulties registering online. However, Rhode Island’s new online voter registration law:
Nicole Kief, Advocacy and Policy Strategist with the American Civil Liberties Union in New York, said: “We applaud Rhode Island for setting a national standard. As states update their voting systems to fit with modern life, it’s critical that those systems are open and accessible to all voters.” Susan Mizner, Disability Counsel at the ACLU, added: “Rhode Island’s preemptive action to ensure accessibility is not only smart as an inclusive step, it’s also financially savvy. It will save Rhode Island the costs that other states are likely to incur when they have to re-design their inaccessible websites.”
[from a press release]
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