Voting: From How to Why

New Video Series - Voting: From How to Why  

Your vote is your voice! Make sure you use it. This new video series features voters with disabilities from around the country, explaining why we vote, steps to get ready to vote, different ways to vote, your rights at the polls, and more! Check them out below. 

Video 1 - Your Vote Matters

“Your vote matters! You can change, with one vote, the outcome of an election.” - Colin, Self Advocate Coalition of Kansas

The deadline to register to vote for the 2024 General Election is Tuesday, October 15, 2024. Register to vote now at ksvotes.org.

VIDEO DESCRIPTION: Voters with disabilities from different states across the U.S. speak from their homes, talking about why people with disabilities should vote: 

  • Leon: a man with brown hair and brown eyes from North Dakota
  • Sashi: an Indian-American woman with medium brown skil and wavy black hair from Texas
  • Tracy: a woman with light skin, hazel eyes, and blond hair from Maryland
  • Randall: an Asian-American man wearing glasses from South Carolina
  • Sean: a white man with brown hair and blue eyes wearing brown glasses seated in a wheelchair from Tennessee
  • Colin: a white man with brown hair seated in a wheelchair from Kansas
  • Karla: a caucasian senior citizen with dark blonde hair and brown eyes from West Virginia

Video 2: Get Ready to Vote

Kansans can register to vote, check your registration status, or update your registration information at ksvotes.org. 

If you don't have a photo ID, you have options: 

  • - Get a free non-driver ID at your county election office or DMV (you must first be registered to vote)!
  • - Become a permanent advance voter if you have a disability - this is the ONLY exemption from showing a photo ID. You must first be registered to vote. Learn more in our Resource Center.

VIDEO DESCRIPTION: Voters with disabilities from different states across the U.S. speak from their homes, explaining how to get ready to vote including: 

  • Jenny:  a white woman with blonde curly hair and glasses from Alabama
  • Sashi: an Indian-American woman with medium brown skil and wavy black hair from Texas
  • Leon: a man with brown hair and brown eyes from North Dakota
  • Colin: a white man with brown hair seated in a wheelchair from Kansas
  • Sean: a white man with brown hair and blue eyes wearing brown glasses seated in a wheelchair from Tennessee
  • Randall: an Asian-American man wearing glasses from South Carolina
  • Karla: a caucasian senior citizen with dark blonde hair and brown eyes from West Virginia

Video 3: Your Rights at the Polls

“Voters with disabilities like us have a right to any accommodations that we need to allow us to cast our ballots!”

You have a right to:

  • - Vote privately and independently
  • - Vote in an accessible polling place – including parking, sidewalks, entrances, hallways, voting areas, etc.
  • - Vote curbside if necessary
  • - Vote on an accessible electronic voting machine or use a ballot marking device
  • - Bring your service animal with you into the polling place
  • - Have someone help you vote

If you have a problem on election day, call the Election Protection hotline at 1-866-OUR-VOTE (1-866-687-8683), or call DRC Kansas at 877-776-1541. 

VIDEO DESCRIPTION: Voters with disabilities from different states across the U.S. speak from their homes, explaining their rights at the polls including:

  • Randall: an Asian-American man wearing glasses from South Carolina
  • Sean: a white man with brown hair and blue eyes wearing brown glasses seated in a wheelchair from Tennessee
  • Sashi: an Indian-American woman with medium brown skil and wavy black hair from Texas
  • Karla: a caucasian senior citizen with dark blonde hair and brown eyes from West Virginia
  • Jenny:  a white woman with blonde curly hair and glasses from Alabama
  • Leon: a man with brown hair and brown eyes from North Dakota

Video 4: Different Ways to Vote

In Kansas, you have options for how you vote – like early in-person voting, early voting by mail, or in-person voting at your polling place on election day.

If you are a person with a disability, you can apply to become a permanent advance voter and automatically receive a ballot in the mail for every election! You must first be registered to vote. Learn more about this option in our Resource Center. 

VIDEO DESCRIPTION: Voters with disabilities from different states across the U.S. speak from their homes, explaining absentee voting and vote by mail including:

  • Sashi: an Indian-American woman with medium brown skil and wavy black hair from Texas
  • Karla: a caucasian senior citizen with dark blonde hair and brown eyes from West Virginia
  • Tracy: a woman with light skin, hazel eyes, and blond hair from Maryland
  • Randall: an Asian-American man wearing glasses from South Carolina
  • Colin: a white man with brown hair seated in a wheelchair from Kansas

Your Vote Matters!

The 2024 General Election will be here before we know it. Take note of some important deadlines and be sure you are registered to vote.

October 15: Deadline to register to vote or update your voter registration info

October 29: Last day to apply for an advance voting mail ballot or apply to become a Permanent Advance voter as a person with a disability.

November 5: GENERAL ELECTION (All advance ballots by mail must be postmarked by Election Day and received by November 8)

Register to vote now at: ksvotes.org

Download the Permanent Advance Voting form here: https://www.kssos.org/forms/Elections/AV2.pdf 

Voting: From How to Why