News & Views of Phillips Since 1976
Sunday December 21st 2025
Help for Voters Living with Disabilities
The fifth in a series of articles about the 2021 Municipal Elections brought to you by the League of Women Voters Minneapolis.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), landmark legislation that prohibits discrimination against individuals living with disabilities, has put the force of law behind mandates for equal access in all areas of civic life, including access for voting.
Voting accessibility is essential to ensure that all people have the right and ability to vote, regardless of their mobility or their physical, communication or other limitations. Minnesota has made strides in improving access to voting for all. In addition to the requirement that polling places be physically accessible, here are a few accommodations that may provide individuals living with disabilities better access to the ballot box:
- ASSISTANCE: You can bring anyone to assist you while you vote, except your employer or union rep, or you can get assistance from election judges. Your assistant can participate in all parts of the voting process, including marking your ballot if you can communicate to them who you want to vote for.
- ACCESSIBLE VOTING MACHINES: All polling places have a machine that can mark a ballot for you, giving you privacy if you cannot or choose not to vote using a pen.
Raise Your Voice
By PETER MOLENAAR
Truth is a Delicate Matter
The term “Cliocide” refers to the destruction of history. In Greek mythology, Clio, a daughter of Zeus, was the proclaimer and celebrator of history, great deeds and accomplishments. Clio is the “muse of history.”
Did every neighbor see the June 28th airing of the PBS documentary “The People vs Agent Orange?” Hey, an estimated 13 million gallons of this cocktail (laced with dioxin) was dumped on Vietnam during my formative years. Survivors often gave birth to babies with severe birth defects, before succumbing to their own cancers. Sadly, David Dix, a former editor of the Alley and a veteran of the Vietnam War, was exposed to Agent Orange. Cancer was the cause of death. Is it wrong to recall such things?
Note: the lethal dioxin element was included as a result of cost cutting the production process. So now, we say: PEOPLE and NATURE BEFORE PROFITS. Right?
Time goes on”¦
Then it was George W. Bush who declared that the Iraqi people would soon be “ready to take the training wheels off.” Never mind the ancient civilization which developed writing and mathematics (duh). Indeed, thousands of priceless artifacts were destroyed by the war, or otherwise looted and sold at auction. Thus far, the Biden administration has managed to return only a small fraction, and Lord knows, Saddam Hussein was no friend of Osama bin Laden!… Read the rest “Raise Your Voice”
Keep citizen journalism alive!
