Voting If You’re Blind or Visually Impaired
Doubtless you have begun hearing the political ads. Yes, it’s election time again, and the Illinois Council of the Blind (ICB) encourages each and every one of you to exercise your right to vote.
Voting is the way we can let our Government officials know how we feel about what they are doing, good or bad. Don’t like how your Representative in Congress, State Representative, State Senator or other elected officials made decisions on issues important to you, vote for those who will decide differently. Unhappy about the garbage fees being raised, vote out those who decided to do it. You want accessible pedestrian signals installed in your area, vote for those who will help make it happen.
The most important thing is not who you vote for or which party you support. The most important thing is you vote. But how do you go about casting those votes?
You can vote either in-person on election day, you can early vote or you can vote by mail. No matter how you choose to vote, it will be accessible so you can vote independently and privately, truly by secret ballot.
In 2026, the General Election will be Tuesday November 3.
How do I Find Out about Where and How to Vote
Decisions about where to put polling places, early voting locations and other election issues are handled by your local election authority. There are 108 election authorities in Illinois. Most are at the county level, but there are only 102 counties in Illinois so where do the six that aren’t based at the county level fit in? Some larger cities have city election authorities. For example, Chicago has a city Board of Elections. I believe Rockford and Bloomington have similar entities. We suggest contacting your local public library or center for independent living and asking them who the local election authority is you need to contact.
Voting in-person
Like everyone else you can go to your local polling place to vote in person on election day. There will be a voting machine which will make the ballot fully accessible to you. Sometimes, this means you’ll make your voting choices and cast an electronic ballot with a paper copy that will be stored and only used in the case of a recount. In some cases, you will make your selections which will be marked on a paper ballot that you take and scan into the regular voting machine the same as everyone else.
The election judges should be able to help you set up the accessible voting machine. If they are not sure how to set it up, they should have someone they can call on for help. It’s your right to use the accessible machine, so advocate that it be set up for you.
Early Voting
If you don’t want to vote on election day in person, you can early vote. Early voting starts about six weeks before election day. Each election authority will have locations that you can go to and early vote. Typical locations may be libraries, city, township or village offices, fire or police stations. Contact your local election authority to find out where early voting will be offered and the days and hours it’s available.
There will be accessible machines at the early voting locations. These are likely to be the same kinds of machines as those at the polling place on election day. There should be people to help you set up the machine and help you put the ballot where you need to put it if you are marking a paper ballot that needs to be put in the ballot box. Again, it’s your right to use the accessible machine, so advocate that it is set up for you.
Voting by Mail
Finally, you can choose to vote by mail if you want too. There are a couple of things you need to know before choosing that option:
- While you can receive, mark and review your ballot independently, you need to be able to print your ballot, sign the envelope you put it in and mail it back to the election authority.
- Do not wait until election day to send in your ballot because Illinois law states ballots postmarked on or before election day will be counted, even if received up to two weeks after. However, the U.S. Postal Service has changed when mail gets postmarked, so if you mail it on election day it may not get postmarked until a day or two later and it won’t be counted.
You need to find out from your election authority how to request an accessible vote by mail ballot. For example, you may need to submit a regular vote by mail ballot application, then contact the election authority to make sure you get an accessible ballot. The ballot will work with assistive technology such as your screen reader.
What if I Run Into Issues Voting
If you have any issues voting, whether in person on election day, early or by mail, contact your local election authority and let them know. You should also contact Equip for Equality’s Voting Assistance Hotline. Equip for Equality is Illinois’ Protection and Advocacy agency for individuals with disabilities. Their voting assistance hotline is open on every election day, and can be reached at 800-537-2632 (Voice) or 800-610-2779 (TTY). Get more information at www.equipforequality.org.
Regardless of how you choose to vote, it’s important to vote! As the late Justin Dart, one of our greatest Disability Rights Advocates said, “Vote as if your life depends on it, because it does.” Happy Voting!