In a sad example of continued stigmatization and discrimination against people with a mental illness, the California Republican Party has raised questions about ten votes cast in the Presidential election. Why? Because the voters had developmental disabilities and were helped in learning the process to cast their votes by one of their non-disabled caretakers.

The state Republican Party now questions the validity of the Thumbs Up votes. They want the Secretary of State to investigate.

“If they haven’t been declared incompetent to vote and they’re a citizen of the United States and they’re over 18 and they’re a legal resident, they’re entitled to vote,” said Professor Pamela Karlan, from Stanford University School of Law.

Karlan says legally, someone like Director Simerley can fill out a ballot for his clients, if they’re illiterate or incapable. Freedom of speech even gives Simerley the right to share his political opinions.

“We try to be totally non-partisan. We didn’t tell people how to vote, we told people how to vote,” said David Simerley.

In other words, nobody was coerced into voting a certain way. And you can’t stop anyone from voting if they are legally entitled to (as these people were). Like it or not in the U.S., the only minimal requirements to be eligible to vote are age and being registered in a specific geographic location.

If this is what the GOP has resorted to to try and win an election, I find it sad. I hope, however, that this was just poor judgment on the part of a single person within the Californian Republican Party.

Read the full article: Questions arise over disabled voters’ rights

Dr. John Grohol is the CEO and founder of Psych Central. He is an author, researcher and expert in mental health online, and has been writing about online behavior, mental health and psychology issues -- as well as the intersection of technology and human behavior -- since 1992. Dr. Grohol sits on the editorial board of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking and is a founding board member and treasurer of the Society for Participatory Medicine.

Like this author?
Catch up on other posts by John M. Grohol, PsyD (or subscribe to their feed).

Comments

This post currently has 15 comments. You can read the comments or leave your own thoughts on our new comments page.

Trackbacks

GOP Thinks Mentally Disabled’s Votes Shouldn’t Count (10/31/2008)

GOP Thinks Mentally Disabled’s Votes Shouldn’t Count at Republican On Best Political Blogs (10/31/2008)

Blogs sobre Psicología : Psicología Abierta (11/1/2008)

President On Best Political Blogs » Blog Archive » GOP Thinks Mentally Disabled’s Votes Shouldn’t Count (11/2/2008)

    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 31 Oct 2008
    Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.