The Mentally Disabled and Law on Voting Rights

The barring of people with mental disabilities from exercising their right to vote has historically been a topic of discussion. Voting rights for people with mental disabilities receive very little attention. The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has fought for decades to ensure that people with mental disabilities have equal access to the voting process and has implemented facilitative measures to make this possible. Voting and political involvement are difficult for those who are mentally ill. Mentally ill people frequently lack the rights to full political engagement, for a variety of reasons. They are thought to be poor in decision making and thus the judgments clouding their mind are irrational. They lack means of transportation for them to get accessibility to public meetings, educational activities on voting, and voting processes. Poor training of the electoral officials coupled with inadequacies in information like time of voting process have worked towards inhibiting voting participation for the mentally disabled. Barriers arising from communication challenges of the mentally disabled excludes them and comparatively, the international development service providers have mistakenly made assumptions that the mentally disabled are uninterested in voting. Thus, numerous barriers have strongly worked towards reinforcing the isolation and exclusion of persons with mental disabilities in having voting rights and participation in the decision making of voting procedures.









Mentally disabled Population and voting rights Law

Introduction

Among the major well-articulated laws of the international human rights, the rights of participation in public voting life and politics are among the emphasized aspects for persons who have mental disabilities. Stereotypes surrounding mental disabilities have frequently lead to discrimination of these population in terms of making public decisions and particularly on processes including voting and public outreach participation. These stereotypes, furthermore cause legislative stereotyping and enactment of laws offering restrictions and even further prohibiting altogether the voting rights in mentally disabled population. Laws of voting rights have in any case tend to be discriminatory and are deeply rooted in prejudices that are not in any way rational. Beyond the legislative laws, denial of mentally disabled population voting rights translates into automatic disenfranchisement linking it with an imposition of guardianship considering public offices. Carrillo (2013) indicates that legal provision precluding individuals with mental illness from voting conclusively fail to give any processes of court challenges or rather reviews from judicial hearings rendering them arbitrary, lack of legitimate purpose and vague.

Purpose of Study

This research paper will discuss how voting rights affects the mentally disabled population. It will look into the existing literature on mentally disabled and voting and further enumerate how various studies have argued concerning voting of the mentally disabled. It will further establish opinionated grounds on the mentally disabled and the law of voting rights. This paper will provide an insight into the reasons why the mentally disabled persons should be allowed to vote.

Statement of the Problem

Denial of voting rights in mentally disables has been a questionable call. Marginalization of these people on the grounds of their disability in the voting process is a point worth examining. According to Mégret (2008), the voting law affecting the people with disability states that “No person who is mentally incompetent shall be qualified to vote unless the disability has been removed”. Under the constitution, therefore, mentally disabled population do not have a right to vote. However, the importance of rights to vote cannot, in any case, be overstated. Voting forms an instrumental choice of democracy and incorporating the mentally disabled persons proves to be non-discriminatory.

Literature Review

Vast literature concerning studies on voting and mentally disabled exist. Some studies have explored the need for allowing the mentally disabled to make decisions in voting while others anecdotal account for case experiences of the focus groups on political measures. In a research done by Green & Klein (2007), it aimed at examining cognitive impairments and intellectual disabilities and their voting behaviors. In the findings, the reported that the mentally disabled individuals have eligibility to the voting process and thus they have to be made accessible to electoral voting. However, their research has never been taking into greater consideration owing to the judgments that people have towards the mentally ill persons. Other literature have strongly emphasized on the elimination of barriers that arise in the voting processes to those who are mentally disabled such as untrained voting personnel on handling the mentally disabled and barriers to information (Callard et al., 2012).

However, in e study done by Armstrong, he argued that the mentally disabled persons should not be allowed to vote, citing a number of reasons. First, he notes that their minds do not function in a rational manner and thus they are easily influenced by people in voting decisions (Armstrong, 2004). Secondly, the mentally challenged population do not have the capability of establishing and expressing political opinions and can be unduly influenced to voting in a specific direction. Besides, he notes that little evidence exists on political voting rights of mentally retarded and the designs to be employed during the voting process to incorporate these population. No information is present that solidly justifies the voting rights for the mentally challenged population according to Armstrong. However, his argument is strongly opposed by Green & Klein, who notes that the mentally disabled persons have rights to vote and that the law of voting rights has for a long time worked in discriminated them from voting (Green & Klein, 2007). They quote that “The traditional justifications for excluding persons with mental disabilities from voting are weighed against the contemporary notions of legal capacity and decision-making breeding grounds of discriminatory against them” (Green & Klein, 2007). The rights of voting are considered to be a key cornerstone in promoting the democracy of a nation. Notably, several organizations, more important the CRPD point out the need for radicalization in voting rights of the mentally disabled.









Mentally Disabled Population and Law on Voting Rights

Legal Framework

Legal framework and the constitution have considerably failed in their effectiveness of accommodation the mentally disabled in the voting rights and the general political standards touching the mentally disable persons. CRPD has proved to be among the major globally ratified treaties concerning human rights and thus serving as a benchmark in reviewing legal frameworks in the voting processes (Mégret, 2008). Besides, the presence set forth standard in international Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, together with many others provide authority interpretations to the rights of mentally disabled including voting rights. Legal frameworks should actively encompass methods of legal standards and procedural selection in election administration of the mentality disabled. Non-discrimination legislations should be embedded in the country's constitution and promote human rights act of population with mental population. Besides the electoral laws, democracy and fairness in processes of political participation have to interconnect the protection of human rights, freedom of voting, equality, and legal capacity including all the disabled individuals. The mentally disabled persons have voting eligibility and this has to be recognized in the legal framework.

The legal framework is furthermore significantly essential in attempts of warranting the participation of the mentally disabled population in decision making and voting processes. They should not be excluded on grounds of concern their employment, birth registration, ownership of property and educational requirements. The shades of voting rights of the mentally disabled call for comprehensively more analysis on the legal framework. Notably, impermissible exclusion of these people raise concerns of amending the legal frameworks in an aim to have an expansion of an adequate protection to political rights. Participatory in the developments of codes of conduct to guide the electoral process for the mentally disable has to be a significant entry in advocating for voting rights for persons with mental illness. The voting experience of the mentally disabled has to be improved and new laws have to be enacted reflecting these changes as instrumental factors for equality in voting for mentally disabled.

The Disability Convention of UN as a Benchmark

The CRPD should serve as a significant benchmark on assessment of voting rights of the mentally disabled population. Rights to participate in political public procedings are strongly instilled inside the foundational instruments consisting frameworks of human legal rights (Callard, 2012). In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), article 21 has a provision for voting rights guaranteeing all individuals of a country equal rights in participating in voting activities. This is also presented in thematically-oriented treaties like in article 5 of Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination together with the instrument of regional human rights. In CRPD, article 29, it stipulates that state parties should “ensure that persons with disabilities can effectively and fully participate in political and public life on an equal basis with others including the right to vote” (Mégret, 2008). Moreover, CRPD of the UN has full legal rights that bind persons with mental disabilities explicitly prohibiting discriminatory activities and further containing measures directed at ensuring these people attain maximum enjoyment of their rights in all spheres of life

The typical principles underlined in CRPD article 3 like inclusion, non-discriminatory, participatory and autonomy function as an additional checklist against the mentally disabled exclusion and limitation grounded in disability public attitudes. Furthermore, in article 4, it is expressed that general obligation call for consultations with disabled in the progress and implementation of policies and legislations in the decision-making process and thus voting process is not an exemption. Non-discriminatory obligations on the grounds of mental disability are also highlighted in CRPD, articled 5 asserting more accordingly the need for the provision of reasonable accommodative services in an effort to realize the voting rights. Additionally, the CRPD calls for guarantees in voting in people who are mentally disabled and provision of proactive measures from the state thus ensuring equality. These measures have to facilitate accessibility to information and communication which is high in pertinent in order to enable proper political participation. The mentally disabled require facilitation in balloting and removal of physical barriers that prove to be a hindrance to them.

Conclusion

Electoral equality is a significant aspect of voting rights which ensures the mentally disabled are fully represented in the voting process. Indeed, the mentally disabled should not be discriminated on the basis of mental irrationality when it comes to voting. The CRPD calls for voting rights to be granted to all individuals and the mentally disabled. Legal frameworks have to take the initiative for incorporating the mentally disabled and amendments to be made to support the burning issue. Adaptation of the UN CRPD should necessitate a re-examination of the constitutional rights of persons with mental illness. It should drive the universal promotion for identifying the rights to vote. Recognition of persons with disability voting rights have been faced with hard battles and yet the problem remains unresolved. Whilst this continues to be a startling issue, lawmakers have to instrumentally embrace the voting rights for the mentally disabled and help in eliminating the stereotypic prejudices and stigmatization to promote dignity and integrity in voting.

References

Armstrong, B. (2004). The Mentally Disabled and the Right to Vote. Psychiatric Services, 27(8), 577-582. doi:10.1176/ps.27.8.577

Callard, F., Sartorius, N., Arboleda-Fl?rez, J., Bartlett, P., Helmchen, H., & Stuart, H. et al. (2012). Mental illness, discrimination, and the law Database (1st ed.). Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.

Carrillo, N. (2013). The framework of the protection of the human rights of persons with disabilities from non-state entities. The International Journal Of Human Rights, 17(4), 463-490. doi:10.1080/13642987.2013.764517

Green, B. & Klein, N. (2007). The Mentally Retarded & the Right to Vote. Polity, 13(2), 184-206. doi:10.2307/3234580

Mégret, F. (2008). The Disabilities Convention: Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities or Disability Rights?. Human Rights Quarterly Database, 30(2), 494-516. doi:10.1353/hrq.0.0000