Voting Assistance for People with Disabilities
Voting with physical challenges
The law requires that your county provide polling places that are accessible to people with disabilities. Georgia’s paper-ballot voting system includes adjustments to accommodate various disabilities. Headsets are available so you can hear your choices read to you. Large controls are available for people with limited mobility, and they can accommodate sip-and-puff devices.
Also, if you are visually impaired, you can use an app on your phone to read your ballot to you before you cast it. Before you leave the polling place, you are required to delete any photos of your ballot necessary to read it.
Voting Information
Whether you register to vote online or fill out a voter-registration application, you can receive assistance to complete it. The person providing assistance must sign the oath next to your signature.
There are several easy ways for Georgians to register to vote:
- Complete the application online or download, print and fill out an application from the Secretary of State’s website.
- Contact your county board of registrars or election office, public library, public assistance office, military recruitment office or school for a mail-in voter registration application.
- Utilize "Motor Voter" registration when you renew or apply for your driver's license or identification card at the Department of Driver Services.
- College students can obtain Georgia voter registration applications in any state in the U.S. from their school registrar's office or the office of the Vice President of Academic Affairs.
If you are uncertain of your registration status, you may confirm your registration status through the Secretary of State's website, or you may contact your county voter registration office. You may also contact the Secretary of State’s office at 404-656-2871 or (V/TTY) 656-1787 for additional assistance.
Georgia law requires all polling places to be fully accessible and equipped with poll workers that are trained to take care of the needs of all voters. On Election Day, polling places in Georgia are open from 7:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. If you have a disability and show up at the polling place between 9:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., you will not be required to wait in line. Tell a poll officer you want to move to the front of the line.
For information on the accessibility of your polling place, please contact your county elections office. You may contact the Secretary of State’s office at 404-656-2871 or (V/TTY) 656-1787 for additional assistance.
You can get help voting if you are unable to sign your name, unable to see or mark the ballot, operate the voting equipment, or enter the voting booth without assistance. When you arrive, you must give the poll worker the name of the person assisting you or write it on your voter certificate.
You can choose anyone to help you except:
- your employer or agent of your employer,
- an officer or agent of your union
- anyone whose name appears on the ballot as a candidate
- A candidate’s spouse, child, sibling, parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, grandchild, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, mother-in-law, father-in-law, brother-in-law, or sister-in-law
No Waiting in Line
Any voter who is 75 years of age or older, or who is disabled and requires assistance in voting, may vote immediately at the next available voting compartment or booth without having to wait in line.
(As authorized by Code Section 21-2-409.)
Adaptive Voting Machines
The voting system is available with a range of accessibility devices that voters can use to navigate through the ballot and make their selections— a hand-held controller called the Audio Tactile Interface (ATI), sip and puff device, or paddle device.
Every polling place in Georgia is equipped with at least one touchscreen voting unit that will allow you to vote while sitting in a chair or wheelchair.
Voters may navigate their ballot using Visual Mode.
In Visual Mode, voters navigate their ballot using one of the available accessibility devices and the visual display.
Voters may navigate their ballot using Audio Mode.
In Audio Mode, the visual display can be masked, and the voter uses headphones to navigate an audio ballot using one of the available accessibility devices.
The Audio Tactile Interface (ATI) is the handheld device that is used by a voter during an Accessible Voting Session to navigate through and make selections to their ballot. The ATI:
- Has raised keys that are identifiable tactilely without activation (i.e. raised buttons of different shapes and colors, large or Braille numbers and letters)
- Can be operated with one hand
- Includes a 3.5 mm headphone jack
- Includes a T-Coil coupling
- Has a T4 rating for interference
- Uses light pressure switches
- Can be equipped with a pneumatic switch, also known as a sip and puff device, or a set of paddles.
Vote in Privacy
Every voter configurable-option is automatically reset to its default value with the initiation of each new voting session.