Disability advocates urge Vermont Senate committee to "write disability rights into every bill" and expand accessible voting

Advocates from the Vermont Center for Independent Living and Disability Rights Vermont told the Senate Government Operations Committee on Feb. 11 that Vermont should "write disability rights into every bill," adopt Australian ballots statewide for municipal elections, and require hybrid meeting options to make public participation more accessible.

The testimony, delivered by Sarah Laundredell, executive director of the Vermont Center for Independent Living, and Laura Cushman, an attorney with Disability Rights Vermont, urged the committee to treat accessibility as a baseline for legislation and administrative practice rather than an afterthought. They asked legislators to review pending bills through a disability lens and proposed specific statutory changes to improve access to voting, public meetings and emergency services.

Laundredell told the committee that disability rights should be embedded in how government operates, saying, "The theme for this year's Disability Advocacy Day is write disability rights into every bill." She described repeated barriers people with disabilities face when engaging with municipal processes, giving the example that petition signature rules and front-door steps can prevent people who use wheelchairs from participating in ballot access procedures.

Cushman framed the issue with both background and policy recommendations. She noted Vermont's high overall turnout in the 2024 presidential election but said the state ranks poorly on disability-access measures, describing that outcome as "a shameful statistic." Cushman told the committee that "68% of towns still use floor votes for town meeting day," a structure she said excludes homebound voters and conflicts with obligations under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Vermont Public Accommodations Act.

Both witnesses recommended concrete fixes. Cushman urged the legislature to: - Authorize hybrid participation for local non-advisory public bodies by removing the state/local distinction in 1 V.S.A. § 312; - Review Title 17, chapter 55 for consistency with the ADA and the Vermont Public Accommodations Act; - Support a Vermont Voting Rights Act as proposed in S.298; and - Recognize that S.297 (electronic ballot return) will only be effective if municipalities use Australian ballots.

On administrative practice, witnesses asked the committee to require standardized, statewide procedures for reasonable accommodation requests (including clear timelines and trained, designated staff) and to allow confidential accommodation requests so individuals are not forced to disclose personal health information publicly when seeking accommodations.

Laundredell also raised concerns about emergency response systems that rely heavily on volunteers, saying volunteers "may not understand or be held to the same standards" as professional responders and that inconsistent training can lead to unsafe evacuations or separation from essential equipment. She urged the committee to consider how volunteer-driven systems might be strengthened or supported to protect disabled Vermonters during crises.

During a short question-and-answer exchange, Senator Vilcek asked whether federal funding for advocacy groups was at risk and how many complaints the agencies could take on. Cushman said some federal funding had been "shut down" in other contexts but that Disability Rights Vermont assists callers with referrals and offered to follow up with specific percentages about the complaints the agency can represent.

Cushman closed by asking the committee to evaluate the voting-related bills she had discussed and the other 38 bills before the committee from a disability perspective and offered to provide further information. The committee paused briefly to locate another senator and then recessed from the testimony.

Next steps: advocates asked the Senate Government Operations Committee to review pending bills with accessibility in mind and to consider statutory and administrative changes; the witnesses offered to supply follow-up data and materials to the committee.