Sec. 2. Findings; purpose

402 words·~2 min read·/bill/116/hr/7755/ih/section-2

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Congress finds the following: Since its founding, America has steadily worked to ensure the right to vote for all through State law, Federal law, and constitutional amendments. Almost a quarter of the electorate will be 65 years old or older in 2020. Of the 37,000,000 voting age individuals with disabilities in America, an estimated 14,300,000 citizens with disabilities reported voting in the November 2018 election. Older individuals who have been lifelong voters and who now find it difficult to leave their home often cannot vote in person.

Despite Federal laws requiring fully accessible voting places, barriers to vote for people with disabilities and older individuals still exist. In 2016 only 40 percent of polling places were architecturally accessible and only 45 percent of voting booths were accessible. Combining deficiencies in architectural and voting booth access, only 17 percent of polling places could be considered fully accessible in 2016. People with disabilities voted at a rate of 4.7 percent less than non-disabled individuals in 2016.

In 2017, the Native American Voting Rights Coalition found that the distance needed to travel to polling locations and drop off boxes for absentee ballots greatly affected the ability of Native Americans to cast ballots. The National Congress of American Indians found that the turnout rate for Native Americans and Alaska Native registered voters is between 5 to 14 percent lower than turnout rates of other racial and ethnic groups. According to the United States Census Bureau, there are nearly 26,000,000 individuals in the United States with limited English proficiency and more than 66,000,000 who speak a language other than English at home.

Americans with limited English proficiency can face challenges when attempting to register to vote and cast a ballot. A strong legislative focus on the needs of older individuals, individuals with disabilities, Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and individuals with limited proficiency in the English language is necessary to remove obstacles to vote and ensure they can exercise their right to vote. The purpose of this Act is to improve access for older individuals, individuals with disabilities, Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and individuals with limited proficiency in the English language to register to vote and to cast a ballot by— providing States and local governments with resources to improve accessibility when registering to vote, voting by absentee, and casting a ballot in person; and expanding Federal oversight and support to ensure greater accessibility to State voting systems.