Short and sweet, Project Vote was something I had the pleasure of attending last year as part of an annual People First of Georgia weekend.. We held it down at Camp Dream there within the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute grounds at Warm Springs, Georgia..
Fun.. Lots of fun.. And, woo, what a nice, relaxing drive down and back, too..
Saw lots of seasoned disability self-advocates, most of whom I knew very well.. Met many more I didn't, including those straight across the top of the state over in and around Helen and White County.. Looking forward to eventually getting a second blast in the form of voting and accessibility, BTW.. :hint, hint, wink:
Absolute single most important bottom line I got out of the experience :: Unless, for example, mandated by the courts that you are [mentally incompetent] to register and vote or are currently in prison or on parole for a felony conviction, you have *THE RIGHT* to vote, and, nothing but nothing should in any way impede the process it takes you in registering AND voting..
If someone in, say, a long term care (LTC) facility such as a nursing home or rehabilitation center, or, goodness forbid, it really happened to someone I know, a county registrar in your local voter registration office tries to restrict your Vote in any way, shape, or form.......
Re-emphasizing that part.......
If someone in, say, a long term care (LTC) facility such as a nursing home or rehabilitation center, or, goodness forbid, it really happened to someone I know, a county registrar in your local voter registration office tries to restrict your Vote in any way, shape, or form.......
Get someone like your state's disability advocacy office on the line..
Post-haste..
For us here in Georgia, for example, it's the very cool folks down at Georgia Advocacy Office down in Decatur that we might call:
Georgia Advocacy Office, Inc. (GAO)
One Decatur Town Center
150 E. Ponce de Leon Ave. S 430
Decatur, GA 30030
Phone: 404-885-1234
Website: www.thegao.org..
Rather than count on that someone like our advocacy offices are going to be available just when we need them, though, because, after all, the closer we get to various voting dates, the thinner everyone's available time allotments become, the best voting rights self-advocacy will come from spending a little time getting to know your voting rights yourself.. Consider starting maybe right off the bat with something like Project Vote's Voter ID Requirements webpage..
Speaking from personal experience, the more you read and get involved in something like what Project Vote presents, the ever more increasingly empowered and self-determined you become because you discover.......
No matter what it may feel like just this very second, you are never, ever actually alone through any of this..
Cyber hugs from Talking Rock..
Get involved..!
Get out the Disability Vote..!
