Can people who are mentally retared or those with severe autism vote in the US?
Elections are governed by state laws. So you have 50 places to look. I suggest the various state Secretary of State web sites as a starting point.
Let’s make it 49 places to look. In Washington State:
[ul]
[li]http://www.declareyourself.com/voting_faq/state_by_state_info_2.html[/li][/ul]
Note the last one.
http://wei.secstate.wa.gov/osos/en/voterinformation/Pages/MentalCompentencyandVotingRights.aspx
So to answer your question, for Washington, the answer is (a qualified) yes.
I used to be an election judge in Illinois, and I can’t even remember that caveat about the being “declared incompetent” in our own rules. I worked in a small rural precinct, and the issue remained academic for us.
We did have an affidavit that those assisting the disabled while they vote could sign, and I suppose it could also be applied to the mentally disabled (and not just the blind, etc.), though it sounds like an interestingly dangerous gray area.
You know, one of my major pet peeves is the euphansism “the disabled” for mentally disabled people. The disabled includes SO much more then just mentallly disabled people!
Yes, it is legal to be a Democrat.
To the mods: I accept the warning that you are going to give me.
I was actually using the term “disabled” to refer to physically disabled people; those who came to vote who required assitance because they were blind or had Parkinson’s, so they could not fill out the ballots on their own. I had never considered the possibility during our election judge training of expanding that definition to include those with mental disabilities. I intend to ask the County Clerk about this.
In Ohio, you may register and vote regardless of the nature of your disability:
Rev. Code §3503.01. Qualifications of electors.
(A) Every citizen of the United States who is of the age of eighteen years or over and who has been a resident of the state thirty days immediately preceding the election at which the citizen offers to vote, is a resident of the county and precinct in which the citizen offers to vote, and has been registered to vote for thirty days, has the qualifications of an elector and may vote at all elections in the precinct in which the citizen resides.
You may designate someone else to sign election-related documents for you if you are unable, due to infirmity or illiteracy, to do so yourself, §3501.382. Board of Elections staff may assist any “physically infirm” person in voting at his or her request, §3509.08.
robert_columbia!
[moderator warning]
Well, I wouldn’t want to disappoint you. This is an official warning for political potshots in GQ.
[/moderator warning]