A ‘chilling effect’: disabled voters bear brunt of new voting restriction rules

Nearly 18 million Americans with disabilities voted in the 2020 election, but new laws this year may change turnout

In late January, a judge in Wisconsin ruled that there were just two ways someone in the state could return a mail-in ballot: they could either place it in the mail or return it to their local clerk in person.

That was a big problem for Martha Chambers. For the last 27 years, Chambers, who is 59 and lives in Milwaukee , has been paralyzed from the neck down after a horse-riding accident. She can write and paint using a stick she holds in her mouth. But when it comes to voting, she needs help with her ballot. I can fill out my ballot. I can sign it. I can fill in the little dots," she said. But I can't hand it, I can't fold it, I can't put it in the envelope," she said. I could not put it in the mailbox. I can't get out my door to put it in the mailbox."