Incapacity rights advocates push again in opposition to GOP voting laws | Native Authorities

A sign in front of the Wingra School directs voters to the voting booth. In the April general election, 1,306 voters came to Wingra School to cast their votes

AMBER ARNOLD – state magazine

Riley cousin child | Wisconsin State Journal

Disability rights advocates on Wednesday opposed a number of Republican bills proposing changes to the voting process in Wisconsin that would make it more difficult for people with disabilities to cast ballots.

Disability rights Wisconsin, and voters with disabilities in particular, challenged two ballots passed by the Republican-controlled Senate on Tuesday. One that included changes, including some new restrictions, on the return of postal ballot papers, and another that would prohibit local elections. Officials are not allowed to fill out incomplete information on a voter’s postal ballot certificate, such as: B. Missing information on the witness address.

“Voters with disabilities are more likely to use postal voting because there are so many barriers to face-to-face voting,” said Barbara Beckert, director of external advocacy for disability rights in Wisconsin, during a Zoom call Wednesday. “This is one of a series of bills introduced in February that would create new barriers and restrictions that would make it more difficult to vote for many of the voters we support.”

Still, Republicans have recently made some changes to the bills that could make the voting changes more palatable to disability advocates.

Electoral law writer Sen. Duey Stroebel, R-Saukville, defended the bills, saying some information shared by advocates was inaccurate.