Disability Voting News: March 11, 2026
Welcome to the first Accessible Voting Booth of March! I’m keeping this one short this week because life has been pretty busy. We’ll start with the latest update on the SAVE Act, share a recent piece on the accessibility of Town Meeting Days in New England, and hear an update on the accessibility of recent elections in Nepal.
Trump says he won’t sign any bills into law until SAVE America Act Passes (via The Hill).
On Sunday, President Trump threatened that he will not sign any bills into law until the SAVE America Act is passes:
“I, as President, will not sign other Bills until this is passed, AND NOT THE WATERED DOWN VERSION – GO FOR THE GOLD: MUST SHOW VOTER I.D. & PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP: NO MAIL-IN BALLOTS EXCEPT FOR MILITARY – ILLNESS, DISABILITY”
To which I say: fine. The SAVE Act is a blatant attempt to disenfranchise millions of Americans under the guise of stopping nearly-nonexistent noncitizen voting. The SAVE Act is a power grab that would disproportionately harm marginalized voters, particularly women and queer people who have changed their names from what is on their birth certificates, people with lower incomes who can’t afford a passport, and disabled people. It’s better to have no legislation passed than to have legislation that will lead to this level of disenfranchisement.
New England Cherishes Its Local Elections. Many Disabled Voters Are Locked Out (via Mother Jones).
Journalist Julia Métraux recently covered the rampant access barriers present at New England town meeting days, day-long in-person local elections. While Métraux notes that these traditions of deliberative democracy are highly valued as an “antidote to authoritarianism,” she highlights how these practices and the jurisdictions that facilitate them fail to accommodate voters with disabilities:
“Town meeting days are a New England tradition, most prevalent in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, as well as some towns in Massachusetts and Connecticut. They predate all disability civil rights laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act—which can be painfully clear to disabled people, who face a wide range of often prohibitive access issues when trying to participate, from inaccessible buildings to unsustainably long meetings.”
Head over to Mother Jones to read the full piece, where Métraux outlines the accessibility challenges present with in-person direct democracy and interviews several disability advocates about their ongoing work to make Town Meeting Day more accessible.
Voting wasn’t easy for Nepalis with disabilities (via The Kathmandu Post).
In the last issue of The Accessible Voting Booth, I shared some of the access barriers that disabled Nepalis face when it comes to voting, including the fact that voters need to walk around four hours on unpaved rural roads in the Mugu district of Nepal to access a polling place. During the March 5th election, over 650,000 Nepalis with disabilities (2.2% of the population) continued to face access barriers, such as crowded polling places that were too difficult to maneuver with a wheelchair and a lack of confidentiality for voters with disabilities. One voter, Jaldeep Sapkota, shared his experience as a visually impaired voter:
“At the polling centre, the voting officers were very cooperative and we didn’t have to stay in line…I was also allowed to take along a visual guide. I didn’t face any attitudinal barriers." The place was too crowded and the spaces were too narrow for wheelchairs to navigate, Sapkota said. "The voting table was also quite high, which could be difficult for shorter people or those with physical disabilities…Overall, the system was better managed compared to last time, but there’s still more to do.”
The piece also highlighted how some polling officers are taking action to make voting more accessible:
Ramesh Khatiwada, an assistant polling officer at a centre in Kathmandu’s ward 32, said he and his team had created separate paths for wheelchairs and prioritised elderly and disabled voters to avoid waiting in line. Family members could assist voters if needed, or polling officers stepped in to follow the voter’s instructions.
Both disability advocates and officials shared that accessible infrastructure continues to be a challenge, and disability advocates have called for reforms such as electronic voting machines to offer privacy and independence to voters with disabilities.
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