Washington, DC – In advance of this crucial election, The Arc has launched a new Voter Support Service to help people with disabilities report any barriers they experience when voting, and get help to resolve their issue to ensure their vote is counted.

“People with intellectual and developmental disabilities should be a force in our election process. But we know that in 2012, one in five voters with disabilities experienced a barrier at the polls. This is unacceptable, and to help resolve this problem, we have created a tool at your fingertips to get help with casting your ballot. This site needs to be saved to your phone so that when you go to exercise your right to vote, you can get the help you may need to make your vote count,” said Peter Berns, CEO of The Arc.

The impact of the disability vote could be staggering – according to a report put out by Rutgers University School of Management and Labor Relations, titled “Projecting the Number of Eligible Voters with Disabilities in the November 2016 Elections”, in this election cycle there will be 62.7 million eligible voters who either have a disability or have a household member with a disability, more than one-fourth of the total electorate. A projected 35.4 million people with disabilities will be eligible to vote this year, representing close to one-sixth of the total electorate. And the number of eligible voters with disabilities has increased 10.8% since 2008, compared to an increase of 8.5% among eligible voters without disabilities.

The Arc is dedicated to helping resolve voting access problems in real-time, and has partnered with Election Protection’s national network of support. Election Protection is a nonpartisan service formed by a coalition of more than 100 local, state and national partner organizations that have a national response infrastructure to handle intake of complaints and problems with access to voting.

The Voter Support Service is a simple, mobile-friendly site for people with disabilities to ensure that their vote counts, and they are included in the democratic process. The Voter Support Service allows a voter on Election Day waiting to cast their ballot a way to ask for help or report a problem at a polling place; find a polling place; join The Arc’s national Disability Advocacy Network; and more.

“We at The Arc are dedicated to an inclusive society for people with disabilities that encompass all aspects of life, including the right to civic engagement. Voting is a fundamental form of expression that helps shape the future of our country. It’s incredibly important that people with disabilities vote. In the words of a disability rights legend Justin Dart, Jr., ‘vote as if your life depended on it, because it does’,” said Berns.

You can save the site to the home screen of your iPhone or Android by following these instructions.

This effort is being supported by the Ruderman Family Foundation and American Association of People with Disabilities.

The Arc advocates for and serves people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), including Down syndrome, autism, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, cerebral palsy and other diagnoses. The Arc has a network of more than 650 chapters across the country promoting and protecting the human rights of people with IDD and actively supporting their full inclusion and participation in the community throughout their lifetimes and without regard to diagnosis.