Voting

CTD’s goal during the regular session and both special sessions was to mitigate the worst parts of any voting bill that created new barriers for the disability community and to get amendments placed in the bill's language that would benefit our community and create better access to the polls. We had some wins and some losses but we played a vital role in many of the negotiations, while continually reinforcing that election measures lose any semblance of integrity when they cross the line into interfering with the reasonable, necessary, and legally protected accommodations for voters with disabilities that have already been in place and working well.

So, after nine months of debate, dozens of hearings, long nights in the Capitol cafeteria, and countless meetings with legislators and their staffs, where did we land? Review the highlights below, or join us Tuesday, Sept. 7 at 2 pm for a Raise Your Voice! Zoom call to review where we are with voting laws (plus a recap of other high profile developments from the last couple months).

Provisions in 2021 Texas Elections Bills that Increase Voter Access

• Mail-in Ballot Tracking. A bill enacted during the regular session created a secure online system to allow voters to track the status of their mail-in ballot applications and mail ballots.
• Mail-in Ballot Cure. SB 1, the omnibus elections bill passed in the 2nd special session, creates a procedure for election officials to notify voters of errors on their mail-in ballots and to provide them with an opportunity to cure the error and have their ballot count.
• Protection for Disability Accommodations. SB 1 contains a provision that was offered as an amendment by Rep. Bucy on the House floor, protecting the ability of voters with disabilities to request and obtain reasonable accommodations and modifications to voting procedures to which they are entitled under state and federal law. We believe this amendment will also help give us the grounds to allow people access to using their signature stamp as a reasonable accommodation.
• SOS Voting Machine Accessibility Training Videos. Sen. Zaffirini was able to include a vital amendment requiring the secretary of state conduct a study regarding the implementation of educational programs, including the production and publication on the Secretary of State's website of instructional videos, to help voters with disabilities understand how to use voting systems used in this state.

Mitigation of Restrictive Provisions in 2021 Texas Elections Bills

These provisions existed in at least one version of the proposed elections omnibus bills (SB 7 and HB 6 in the regular session; SB 1 and HB 3 in the special sessions), but have been favorably amended or are not present in the final version of the bill.

• Proving disability. Early versions of SB 7 would have required voters applying to vote by mail due to a disability to attest to the nature of their disability, potentially revealing confidential medical information just to be allowed to vote. Voters applying for mail ballots for all elections in a calendar year would have been required to attach documentation of their disability from their doctor or a government agency to the application. Both of these provisions were removed in later iterations of the bill.
• Individuals assisting voters required to show ID. Early versions of SB7 and HB 6 would have required individuals assisting voters at polling locations or driving voters for curbside voting to show acceptable voter ID to polling place officials. These provisions do not exist in the final version of SB 1.
• Poll watchers may video record voters in polling locations. Provisions in SB 7 would have allowed voters to record voters in the polling location. Voters receiving assistance were subject to being recorded even while at the voting station completing their ballot. Initially, the bill contained no safeguards on the distribution of images captured at a polling place. Later versions of SB 7 added such safeguards, and SB 1 removed the provisions authorizing video recording altogether.
• Felony prosecution for election officials altering election rules. HB 6 contained a provision that would threaten any election official who altered or modified an election procedure, even to protect the health and safety of voters, with a state jail felony. The threat of felony prosecution for simply assisting voters would have likely had a chilling effect on election official recruitment. The felony provision was amended out of later versions of the omnibus.

You may be asking yourself, are we done yet? And, the best answer we can give you is, we don’t think so! There are already calls for a 3rd special session and more changes to our elections process in Texas, which will be Gov. Abbott's call.

Changes to your student's IEP

When the pandemic hit in the spring of 2020, many students with disabilities lost services or saw those services put on hold. For some students, access to technology and learning on a virtual platform were significant barriers. Students lost access to education and related services, and many experienced regression in skills. Ahead of the 87th Legislative session, state agencies and lawmakers acknowledged the anticipated need for compensatory educational services for many students with disabilities who lost out.

In response, the 87th Texas Legislature passed SB 89 (Menendez), or the COVID Recovery Bill, to create a COVID supplement to be considered and included as part of each student's individualized education program or plan (IEP).

All Admission, Review and Dismissal (ARD) committees are now required to develop this supplement as part of the IEP to document services that may have been interrupted, reduced, or stopped during the pandemic, and determine if compensatory services are required.

This supplement to the IEP must include:

• Whether the written report of the student’s full individual and initial evaluation was completed, and if it was completed by the date required;

Save the date! Oct. 15 - 16, we're returning to Alamo Drafthouse for the 18th annual Cinema Touching Disability Film Festival! This event will be live-streamed as well.

Coming up at CTD

Thank you to 2021 sponsor

Thank you to 2021 Cinema Touching Disability sponsors

Upstream Technology

Mr. Michael Portman

Billy Millwee & Associates

Cigna

Lynda Frost & Dennis Borel

Amgen

The DentaQuest Partnership

Easterseals of Texas

GRAIL

Texas Original Compassionate Cultivation

Having trouble viewing this email? View it in your web browser.

If you have received this message in error, our apologies! Update your preferences or unsubscribe below.