# Are the mentally impaired allowed to vote? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 27, 2003, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-mentally-impaired-allowed-to-vote/177867 "2003-05-27T20:48:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-mentally-impaired-allowed-to-vote/177867/21 "2003-05-28T01:05:04Z")
> [@](#): > > …In particular, if you have a good joke that fits in an existing thread, go right ahead and post it… **x-ray** , you’re my hero! [Non-partisan grinnies to all, even Mister Manny the mean ol’ moderator.] ---
**Author:** ![county](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce7236/32.png) [@county](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/county)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-mentally-impaired-allowed-to-vote/177867/22 "2003-05-28T02:02:53Z")
I believe that felons lose the right to vote; unless they receive a pardon. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-mentally-impaired-allowed-to-vote/177867/23 "2003-05-28T02:14:00Z")
Depends on the state **county** , click on my first link. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-mentally-impaired-allowed-to-vote/177867/24 "2003-05-28T02:15:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by John Mace \* > **I don’t know. Is someone with Down’s syndrome allowed to have a driver’s license?** There is a big difference here. Having a driver’s license is a privilege, not a right. The state has much broader scope in denying an individual a driver’s license than it does a fundamental right, such as the one to vote. ---
**Author:** ![whistlepig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/73ab20/32.png) [@whistlepig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whistlepig)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-mentally-impaired-allowed-to-vote/177867/25 "2003-05-28T02:45:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Q.E.D. \* > \*\*There is a big difference here. Having a driver’s license is a privilege, not a right. The state has much broader scope in denying an individual a driver’s license than it does a fundamental right, such as the one to vote. \*\* And as a right, a driver’s license is earned, not denied. Any person\* can get a driver’s license. You just have to pass the written and driving tests. A disability allows only certain accommodations on the written test and only certain modifications on the driving test (e.g., hand controls that are legal for any driver). Whistlpig, who has helped people with developmental disabilites study for and pass his or her driver’s test. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-mentally-impaired-allowed-to-vote/177867/26 "2003-05-28T02:53:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by whistlepig \* > **And as a right, a driver’s license is earned, not denied.** You can call it a right all you want, but it’s not. My point was, and still is, that the state can suspend or revoke your driving privileges for a much broader range of reasons than it could a more fundamental, constistutional right. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-mentally-impaired-allowed-to-vote/177867/27 "2003-05-28T03:51:40Z")
I work with DD. They are allowed to vote, but I’ve rarely seen any who did. ---
**Author:** ![InLikeFlynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f19dbf/32.png) [@InLikeFlynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InLikeFlynn)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-mentally-impaired-allowed-to-vote/177867/28 "2003-05-28T04:47:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by stuyguy \* > \*\*Yes. They’re called Democrats. > > [Yuk, yuk. C’mon someone had to do it. Grinny.] \*\* Im a life long DEM and still have to admit that that was pretty good and the rest of you tight wad’s really need to lighten up!! ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-mentally-impaired-allowed-to-vote/177867/29 "2003-05-28T04:58:43Z")
“Yes. They’re called Democrats.” Actually, I should have diffused that in the OP. My fault.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-mentally-impaired-allowed-to-vote/177867/30 "2003-05-28T06:08:52Z")
I don’t have a cite, but… Back in the 90s, there was a scandal revolving around absentee ballots at a nursing home for the elderly. The director of the place made sure every resident got an absentee ballot and, if they were in no mental condition to use it (quite a few were not), the director would vote Democrat for them. Of course, in a number of Chicago and Texas elections, dead people somehow managed to cast their vote as well. ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-mentally-impaired-allowed-to-vote/177867/31 "2003-05-28T06:41:13Z")
We operate a day program for Dev. Disabled Adults and if they want to vote, we can assist and transport them to their polling place to vote. I have 6 or 7 of them vote on a regular basis and they take it seriously. Sometimes they ask me about a certain person/proposition and I try my best to avoid answering them so I won’t be accused of swaying their votes. I do tell them if they don’t understand a certain issue, then don’t vote one that particular one; you can skip certain areas and vote for the people or props that you know well enough. Some of these adults live with their parents (still!) and the parents will try to keep them from voting which I think is terrible. We are trying to integrate them into society, not isolate them further. Other parents fill out their voting guides and have them vote the same way as the parents do which is even worse. I try to discourage that and let the adult know that he/she should vote what he/she thinks, not what others want you to think. After all, some candidates/propositions WILL affect their daily lives, directly or indirectly. Then on the other hand, I have my mother-in-law pick up my father-in-law’s voter guide and copy everything that he votes for, so I think the “voting abuses” go further than just the developmentally disabled. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-mentally-impaired-allowed-to-vote/177867/32 "2003-05-28T07:46:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by John Mace \* > \*\*“Yes. They’re called Democrats.” > > Actually, I should have diffused that in the OP. My fault.🙂 \*\* _Defused_, actually. It isn’t a gas. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-mentally-impaired-allowed-to-vote/177867.md?page=1)