Understanding the Intersection Between Voter Access and Disability in Voter’s Choice Act Counties for the 2022 Primary and General Elections

In this report, the UCLA Voting Rights Project (UCLA VRP) was tasked with providing an analysis of how voters with disabilities engage in the voting process in Voter’s Choice Act (VCA) counties. As of the writing of this report, no state collects data on voters with disabilities, and there is no way to quantitatively evaluate disability access and turnout through the voting data maintained by the California Secretary of State’s Office. Given these conditions, it is vital to hear feedback from voters with disabilities on the voting process and receive guidance on how the electoral process can be more equitable in California.

This report draws on focus group and interview data from a sample of voters in VCA counties who identify as having a disability or impairment. While the focus group sample is very limited for this first report, it does set a baseline for future studies. The report is divided into two sections 1) information on voters with disabilities, which includes an academic literature review of the existing research on this subsect of voters, and 2) response information from focus groups that were commissioned by the California Secretary of State and conducted by the UCLA Voting Rights Project. As further explained in the sections below, these focus groups were comprised of voters who self-identified as having mobility limitations, sight limitations, and hearing limitations.