How to better serve disabled voters

More than 70 million Americans live with disabilities, yet they remain underrepresented in journalism produced by U.S. newsrooms. Here are four ways that journalists can improve their coverage for voters with disabilities this election cycle and beyond. 

• Brush up on the latest laws governing voting in your area and shine a light on compliance issues you find. “Take a good look at the Department of Justice's website because they do a lot of investigations on polling locations that are not ADA-compliant,” said Jessica Huseman, editorial director for VoteBeat.

• Provide coverage that includes the rights of disabled voters. For instance, disabled voters are allowed to bring anyone they choose to help them cast a ballot: “It is law that you can have whoever you want to assist you for a federal election to cast your vote,” said Thomas Hicks, chairman of the United States Election Assistance Commission. “Two exceptions: One being it can't be your boss, and the other being that it can't be a union rep. But other than that, you can have anyone you want.” 

• Make accessibility a priority in the newsroom. “Something I often see newsrooms doing is only making coverage about disability issues accessible,” said Wendy Lu, a senior staff editor at The New York Times. “We're not just consuming news about disability; we should be making coverage accessible across the board.” Journalists can consult Disability Matters, a toolkit to help newsrooms to better serve the disability community for guidance. 

These tips were compiled from a previous Institute panel discussion on voter accessibility. Watch now.