The Americans with Disabilities Act, defines a disability to be “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities of such individual; a record of such an impairment; or being regarded as having such an impairment.” This definition is broad by design in order to capture the diversity of the disability community, which encompasses people who have mobility issues, are visually or hearing impaired, are blind, or have cognitive impairments. As such, voters with disabilities experience unique challenges and may require different accommodations to cast their ballot privately and independently. While voting accessibility is also an issue among other groups of voters, such as younger voters, Native Americans, and voters with limited English proficiency, this explainer will focus on voting accessibility as it relates to voters with disabilities.
This explainer was last updated on September 29, 2026.
Disability in the U.S. Electorate
Voters with disabilities constitute a sizable and growing segment of the U.S. population. Using data from the American Community Survey and Census Bureau demographic projections, the Rutgers Program for Disability Research estimated that 40.2 million people with disabilities were eligible to vote in the November 2024 election. This constitutes nearly one in six eligible voters and a 5.1% increase since 2020, compared to a 2.5% increase in the number of eligible voters without disabilities. However, the actual number of voters with disabilities is likely higher given that these projections are derived from self-reported statistics, and many people who live with mobility, cognitive, or sensory issues may not identify as having a disability.
When estimating the number of people who are impacted by disability, it is also important to consider the number of individuals who live with someone who has a disability, given that these individuals often take on caregiving responsibilities that can impact their ability to vote. For example, a caregiver may have a limited window of time, such as when a home health aide is present, to go to their polling place and vote. According to analyses conducted by Rutgers, an estimated 72.7 million eligible voters in 2024 either had a disability or shared a household with someone who had a disability, cumulatively representing nearly one-third of the electorate. Figure 1 below shows the growth in the number of people who live with someone who has a disability, over the past five general election cycles.
The figure above depicts a bar graph showing the number of eligible voters with a disability (in green) and the number of eligible voters who live with someone who has a disability (in gold), for each presidential election since 2008.
The figure above depicts a bar graph showing the number of eligible voters with a disability (in green) and the number of eligible voters who live with someone who has a disability (in gold), for each presidential election since 2008.
Voting Barriers for People with Disabilities
Nationwide post-election surveys have highlighted significant voting challenges faced by people with disabilities over the last decade. In 2012, research conducted by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) and Rutgers found that, across all methods of voting, 26% of voters with disabilities faced difficulties when casting a ballot. This dropped by over half in 2020, when only 11% of voters with disabilities reported difficulties; the figure increased slightly in 2022 to 14%. Between 2012 and 2020, reductions in voting difficulties were more prominent among those who voted in-person, compared to those who voted by mail, suggesting that improving the accessibility of polling places, expanding early voting, and providing accessible, free public transportation to the polls may have had greater impacts on voting access than vote-by-mail policies. However, the gap between these two methods was small: approximately one percentage point.
Survey data from the EAC and Rutgers have also shown that voters with disabilities disproportionately experience voting challenges compared to voters without disabilities. For example, in 2020 voters with disabilities experienced difficulties voting at nearly twice the rate of those without disabilities—approximately 11.4% compared to 6.4%. In 2022, this gap increased significantly; people with disabilities experienced difficulties at more than three times the rate of people without disabilities. These difficulties were also more likely to result in disenfranchisement for people with disabilities. In 2022, approximately 4.9% of eligible voters with disabilities said they tried and failed to vote in that year’s general election, compared to 2.8% of those without disabilities. This gap may seem small, but it represents just over three quarters of a million people with disabilities. These data are supported by the 2024 Survey of the Performance of American Elections, which found that illness or disability was one of the most common reasons for not voting in the 2024 general election.
People with disabilities may experience significant challenges when attempting to cast their vote, but for many, barriers arise much earlier in the voting process. In 2020, the second most common reason for not registering to vote among people with disabilities was “permanent illness or disability.” This was reported by approximately 24.6% of people with disabilities, compared to 1.1% of people without disabilities. In 2022, these figures rose to 26.3% and 1.4%, respectively (see Figure 2 below). These data suggest that people with disabilities may experience barriers when registering to vote, and/or are deterred from registering to vote by anticipated voting challenges.
The figure above on the left shows the three most common reasons voters with disabilities did not register to vote across general elections from 2008 to 2022, with each bar representing the percentage of voters surveyed that cited that reason. The figure on the right shows the same three reasons as cited by voters without disabilities, for comparison.
The figure above on the left shows the three most common reasons voters with disabilities did not register to vote across general elections from 2008 to 2022, with each bar representing the percentage of voters surveyed that cited that reason. The figure on the right shows the same three reasons as cited by voters without disabilities, for comparison.
Barriers to Voting In-Person
In-person voting presents a unique set of challenges for voters with disabilities. Federal laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Help America Vote Act require all polling places to accommodate voters with a range of disabilities. These accommodations include requiring polling places to be wheelchair accessible, supplying alternative ballots (such as those in large-print or braille), and providing at least one voting system that is accessible for voters with disabilities, including voters who are blind or visually impaired, among others.
Throughout the U.S., implementation of these protections has been mixed, largely due to budgetary and resource constraints. A study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that 60% of polling places (107 out of 178 polling places) inspected in 2016 featured one or more potential barriers to voters with disabilities outside the voting area. The GAO also found that 65% of polling places where the voting area was inspected (or 89 out of 137 polling places) had a voting station with an accessible voting system that could impede voters’ ability to cast a ballot privately and independently. However, most states did report having taken action during the 2016 general election to facilitate implementation of the ADA and enhance voting access for voters with disabilities. This included having accessibility requirements in place under their state law, providing election worker training on accessibility standards, and conducting election-specific oversight activities.
The adverse impacts of polling place accessibility issues can be seen in the gap between the percentage of voters with disabilities who experience difficulties voting in-person and the percentage of voters without disabilities who experience the same issues. In the 2022 general election, nearly 20% of people with disabilities reported experiencing issues when voting in-person, most commonly related to waiting in line at the polling place (7.4% of voters) and “reading or seeing the ballot” (5.9% of voters). Only 6.1% of voters without disabilities experienced any difficulties voting in-person; 2.1% reported that they experienced issues with either reading their ballot or standing in line.
For many voters with disabilities, logistical challenges posed by arranging transportation to and from the polling place may also adversely impact the in-person voting experience. According to a 2022 National Household Travel Survey, 18.6 million Americans age 5 and older (or approximately 6.1% of all Americans in that age range) had self-reported travel-limiting disabilities. This means that even if a voter’s polling place poses no physical barriers, these voters may be unable to vote in-person due to the lack of accessible transportation or their travel limitations.
Transportation challenges are particularly acute in states such as West Virginia, where nearly 20% of the population has a self-reported disability and transportation options in rural and mountainous areas are limited. Voter turnout among people with disabilities in the state is one of the lowest in the United States, standing at 34.2% in 2022. Academic studies regarding the negative effects of transportation access on voter turnout among the general population may indicate that these challenges are a contributing factor.
Voting By Mail
Voting by mail is widely viewed as an effective tool for improving voting access among people with disabilities given that it mitigates many of the obstacles encountered during the in-person voting process. Its impact on ballot access is substantiated by the experiences of voters with disabilities, and more recently, research from the American Civil Liberties Union and Stanford University which found that all-mail voting was associated with smaller turnout gaps between people with and without disabilities. Data published by the EAC and Rutgers also show that, between 2018 and 2022, states that transitioned from excuse-required absentee to no-excuse absentee experienced a 6.9% increase in voter turnout among people with disabilities compared to a 0.3% increase in states that remained excuse-required.
Given these benefits, data show that voters with disabilities utilize mail voting at higher rates than voters without disabilities. In the 2022 general election, 42% of voters with disabilities voted by mail, compared to 35% of voters without. This was a notable decrease from 2020, when 51.3% of voters with disabilities voted by mail, compared to 43.9% of voters without disabilities. Shifting voter preferences since the COVID-19 pandemic may have played a role in the notable decline in mail voting in 2024, alongside the rollback of state policies that temporarily expanded mail ballot access in 2020. For example, seven states—Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Kentucky, Missouri, New Hampshire, and West Virginia—instituted no-excuse absentee voting for the 2020 general election but returned to excuse-required absentee voting in the 2022 and 2024 general elections. Overall, mail voting usage rates remain above that of 2012, when 28.1% of people with disabilities voted by mail compared to 17.3% of voters without disabilities.
While voting by mail can mitigate the barriers people with disabilities face when voting in-person, it can also pose unique challenges that can compromise their ability to vote privately and independently. For example, people with dexterity issues who vote by mail using a paper ballot may be unable to mark their ballot independently without access to an accessible voting system. Signature requirements for mail ballots can pose similar barriers for voters who may be unable to physically sign their name, or provide a consistent signature. This may lead to signature verification issues, and difficulties with navigating the ballot curing process. For voters who are blind or have low vision, accessing alternative ballot formats may also be more difficult than using an accessible voting device at a polling place. California and other states have developed innovative tools such as the Remote Accessible Vote by Mail System, to help mitigate these challenges, but the diversity of the disability experience means that many challenges persist.
The impacts of these challenges can be seen when comparing self-reported difficulties with voting by mail among people with and without disabilities. This includes difficulties with reading, understanding, filling out, completing, receiving, and returning a mail ballot. In the 2022 general election, a higher percentage of voters with disabilities reported experiencing difficulties with receiving and reading their mail ballot than voters without disabilities. This gap stood at 2.2 percentage points (pp) for issues with receiving a mail ballot, and 1.7 pp for reading a mail ballot, constituting an increase of 2 pp and .3 pp increase from the 2020 general election. Gaps were smaller, but present, in the 2022 general election for all other difficulties (see Figure 3 below) except for reported difficulties with understanding a mail ballot. Counting all difficulties, voters with a vision impairment were most likely to encounter issues with voting a mail ballot in 2022.
This figure shows the gap in percentage points between voters with disabilities who reported experiencing mail voting difficulties related to reading, understanding, filling out, completing, receiving, and returning a mail ballot and voters without disabilities who reported experiencing that same difficulty in the 2020 and 2022 general elections. A positive gap indicates that voters with disabilities reported experiencing a given difficulty at a higher rate than voters without disabilities. Please note, a 0.0 pp gap means that voters with disabilities and voters without disabilities reported experiencing a given issue at the same rate.
This figure shows the gap in percentage points between voters with disabilities who reported experiencing mail voting difficulties related to reading, understanding, filling out, completing, receiving, and returning a mail ballot and voters without disabilities who reported experiencing that same difficulty in the 2020 and 2022 general elections. A positive gap indicates that voters with disabilities reported experiencing a given difficulty at a higher rate than voters without disabilities. Please note, a 0.0 pp gap means that voters with disabilities and voters without disabilities reported experiencing a given issue at the same rate.
Registration and Turnout by Voters with Disabilities
While much progress has been made to improve the voting process for people with disabilities, persistent barriers posed by both the in-person voting process and voting by mail have resulted in enduring gaps in registration rates and turnout between voters with disabilities and voters without disabilities. Gaps in turnout have historically been larger than gaps in registration, indicating that lower turnout among voters with disabilities is not necessarily driven by lower registration rates. However, there has been more progress in closing the gap in turnout since 2008 than the gap in registration. Between 2008 and 2020, the turnout gap in presidential election years narrowed from 7.2 pp to 5.7 pp (see Figure 4 below), meaning that voters with disabilities continue to participate at lower rates than those without disabilities. In the 2022 midterm elections, this gap was almost cut in half, from 3.1 pp in 2010 to 1.6 pp in 2022. Vermont (14.2 pp), Oregon (12.5 pp), and Wisconsin (11.7 pp) experienced the largest turnout gaps between voters with and without disabilities. Disability turnout in 2022 was higher than voters without disabilities in Nevada (by 13.8 pp), Idaho (by 7.9 pp), and Utah (by 7.4 pp).
The figure above depicts two line graphs showing the change in voter turnout gaps among voters with disabilities and voters without disabilities in presidential elections (left) and midterm elections (right). The green line represents voters with disabilities and the gold line represents voters without disabilities.
The figure above depicts two line graphs showing the change in voter turnout gaps among voters with disabilities and voters without disabilities in presidential elections (left) and midterm elections (right). The green line represents voters with disabilities and the gold line represents voters without disabilities.
Throughout this same time period, gaps in voter registration fluctuated, exhibiting no clear pattern of improvement or decline. Beginning in 2008, the registration gap between voters with disabilities and voters without disabilities in presidential election years stood at 3.3%, shrinking to 2.9% in 2020 and 2.1% in 2024. However, the registration gap in 2020 represents an increase over the prior two presidential election cycles, where the gap stood at 2.3% in 2016 and 2012 (see Figure 5 below). Patterns in midterm elections fluctuated more, with no reported registration gap in 2014, but a gap of 1.4% in 2018 and .5% in 2022. Unlike voter turnout, breakdowns of voter registration gaps by state are not readily available for comparison. While registration gaps between voters with disabilities and voters without disabilities are small, a difference of just two percentage points represents approximately 804,000 voters. This highlights the continued need for efforts at the local, state, and federal levels to improve the accessibility of the voting process, including voter registration.
The figure above depicts two line graphs showing the change in voter registration gaps among voters with disabilities and voters without disabilities in presidential elections (left) and midterm elections (right). The green line represents voters with disabilities and the gold line represents voters without disabilities.
The figure above depicts two line graphs showing the change in voter registration gaps among voters with disabilities and voters without disabilities in presidential elections (left) and midterm elections (right). The green line represents voters with disabilities and the gold line represents voters without disabilities.
Conclusion
The diversity of disabilities experienced by American voters presents unique voting challenges, whether that be in-person or when voting by mail. Over the years, election officials have made concerted efforts to improve the accessibility of American elections, but resource and funding constraints have led many of these challenges to persist. As the share of the American electorate with disabilities continues to grow, partnerships among researchers and practitioners will be critical to improving the voting experience for all voters, regardless of disability.
Suggested Readings
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Rutgers Program for Disability Research. Fact Sheets on Disability and Voter Turnout.
American Civil Liberties Union. “Voting With a Disability: Breaking Down Barriers to the Ballot”
Lisa Schur, et al. 2023. “Ensuring Voting Access Across the Electorate: Best Practices and New Areas for Research.”
Whitney Quesenbery. Center for Civic Design. 2019. "Progress on the roadmap for usability and accessibility of next generation elections."
Martin Agran and Carolyn Hughes. 2013. "You Can't Vote—You're Mentally Incompetent”: Denying Democracy to People with Severe Disabilities.”
Lynn Baumeister, Whitney Quesenbery, and Sharon Laskowski. 2023. "Voting by Mail: The Impact of Signature Identity Verification for Voters with Disabilities."
Robynn Kuhlmann and Daniel C. Lewis. 2022. “Making the Vote (In)Accessible: Election Administration Laws and Turnout Among People with Disabilities.”
Peter Miller and Sierra Powell. 2016. “Overcoming Voting Obstacles: The Use of Convenience Voting by Voters With Disabilities.”
Andrew Peterson, Jason Karlawish, and Emily Largent. 2021. “Supported Decision Making With People at the Margins of Autonomy.”
Danielle Root and Mia Ives-Rublee. 2021. “Enhancing Accessibility in U.S. Elections.”
United States Election Assistance Commission. 2025. “Best Practices: Accessible Voter Registration.”
Wisconsin Elections Commission. 2023. “Barriers Faced by Elderly Voters and Voters with Disabilities.”