Atlanta, GA – The Georgia Disability Vote Partnership (GDVP) is proud to release its nonpartisan voter guide. Most of the partners of GDVP are nonprofit organizations and this voter guide is for educational purposes only, as GDVP does not rate or endorse candidates. The purpose of the guide is to help voters know the positions of the candidates and to provide some resources to help Georgians vote. GDVP has asked each of the Democratic and Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate the identical questions about issues affecting people with disabilities. Not all of the candidates have responded in full, but all responses that the partnership has received are reported here in full without editing.
According to the 2019 Annual Disability Statistics Compendium, the total number of Georgians with disabilities is 1,246,077. 2018 employment data shows that there are 658,811 working-age people with disabilities in Georgia. In the economic expansion prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, 238,875 (or 36.3 percent) of those Georgians have a job.
Even before the general election, the Georgia Disability Vote Partnership (GDVP) has been working hard to mobilize Georgia’s disability community and turn out the vote. The Arc Georgia has compiled extensive resources online to help Georgians with disabilities make a plan to vote, vote early by mail or vote in-person on January 5, 2021. These and other voter specific resources can be found online: https://ga.thearc.org/vote.
Additionally, The Arc offers its own Disability Voter Guide in plain language about who can vote, how to vote, how to learn more about candidates, and other resources. That guide is available in English: http://thearc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/ Disability_Voter_Guide_English.pdf and in Spanish: http://thearc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/ Disability_Voter_Guide_Spanish.pdf.
Because transportation is a key barrier faced by many voters with disabilities, partnering organization Ride to Vote is offering an online option to request an accessible ride to the polls. To request and confirm your ride, please visit https://bit.ly/RideToVoteGA and email the following to confirm your ride: Mia Ives-Rublee at ivesrubl@gmail.com, Carmela French at carmelafrenchi@gmail.com, and Zan Thornton at atadaptgazan@gmail.com.
ABOUT THE GEORGIA DISABILITY VOTE PARTNERSHIP
The Georgia Disability Vote Partnership (GDVP) was created out of a need to coordinate voter mobilization efforts in the disability community. Many of our member organizations are 501(c) 3 nonprofits and take pride in our non-partisan voter rights advocacy platforms for disability rights. Below is a list of state-wide organizations that form the Georgia Disability Vote Partnership:
GDVP Georgia Disability Organizations
- The Arc Georgia
- Georgia Advocacy Office
- Georgia ADAPT
- REV UP Georgia/AAPD
- Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities
- Down Syndrome of Atlanta Association
- All Voting is Local
- Atlanta Legal Aid
- Access to Independence
- Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network (AWN)
- Walton Options Independent Living Center
- Uniting for Change-SUN
- ADA Legacy Project
- LIFE – Living Independence for Everyone
The GDVP has been able to expand beyond the Georgia State lines, which is expanding our outreach exponentially. It appreciates the many organizations outside of Georgia that share their expertise to further the goals of the GDVP. Below is a list of National Disability Organizations that support the partnership:
GDVP National Disability Organizations
- RespectAbility
- The Arc US
- American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD/REV UP)
- Disability Action
- National Down Syndrome Congress
- American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD)
- National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities (NACDD)
- Self-Advocates Becoming Empowered (SABE)
- United Cerebral Palsy
- Autism Society of America
Press contacts:
Stacey Ramirez, State Director, The Arc Georgia
Phone: 678-313-3177
Email: sramirez@thearc.org
Dana Lloyd, Program Director, Georgia Advocacy Office
Phone: 404-885-1234
Email: dlloyd@thegao.org
Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, President, RespectAbility
Phone: 202 365 0787
Email: JenniferM@RespectAbility.org
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