Bridging The Gap: Working To Increase The Disability Voting Bloc

http://youtu.be/fCRELnA4bYM

The first hat flew into the political ring when Ted Cruz became the first major candidate to announce his 2016 Presidential bid. And as the eyes of the country wait to see who’s next, there’s a sobering statistic elected officials should be aware of. When it comes to voter turnout on Election Day – studies have found there’s a major gap between individuals with and without disabilities. There are at least 35 million voting age people with disabilities in the United States. However, 15 million voted in the last Presidential election. The Center for Disability Rights (CDR), an advocacy group in Rochester, has been working throughout the state to help bridge that gap in New York through its New York Disability Vote Network. On this segment of Need to Know, host Hélène Biandudi Hofer is joined by Stephanie Woodward and Justin Young of CDR to discuss this issue and the progress of their work.