Electoral participation among Canadian voters with intellectual disabilities

Abstract

Canada is one of the few countries in the world that has no legal restriction on voting due to cognitive impairment. In fact, recent legal changes have technically increased the accessibility of polling locations. However, despite this inclusive legislation, individuals with intellectual disabilities vote at lower rates than individuals without disabilities and individuals with other disabilities. Currently, there are no qualitative studies within Canada that speak to individuals with intellectual disabilities that examines voting among this population. This qualitative descriptive thesis conducted within the pragmatic paradigm aims to explore what voting means to individuals with intellectual disabilities and what barriers and facilitators they experience during the voting process. 12 individuals with intellectual disabilities were recruited through two community organizations, Community Living Kingston and District and the Special Olympics. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and revealed three findings: 1) individuals with intellectual disabilities experienced mixed voting experiences, 2) the most commonly cited barrier was informational, and 3) the most commonly cited facilitator was the support they received from election volunteers on voting day. Regarding the first finding, while most participants voted, remembered voting, and generally felt positively about voting, some participants felt negatively about voting or were not interested in voting. Regarding the second finding, participants felt that they lacked several types of information necessary to cast votes, including knowing who to vote for and the voting process itself. Regarding the third finding, participants felt that the volunteers who worked at the voting locations were very helpful and noted that the volunteers were nice and effective. Moving forward, Elections Canada and community organizations should continue to collaborate to implement comprehensive accessibility measures that go beyond addressing physical barriers but also include informational and attitudinal barriers.