Helping seniors vote

With a record nationwide turnout likely in November, some are turning their attention to the largest voting bloc -- seniors. Stateline.org is running a feature profiling state laws that prevent some seniors from being able to vote, especially those who've been deemed mentally incapable of managing routine affairs.

In Arkansas, people that experience some degree of mental impairment can vote. The only requirement under our state constitution regarding mental capacity is that the voter "not be presently adjudged as mentally incompetent as to the ability to vote by a court of competent jurisdiction." Ark. Code Ann. § 7-5-311 even provides a requirement that the county board of election commissioners provide reasonable and adequate methods whereby voters with a mental disability can execute their ballots.

13 states have no prohibition of voting by those with compromised mental capacities, and according to a Duke University study, one in three seniors older than 70 has some form of cognitive impairment. While many states like Arkansas prevent those adjudged to be incompetent and under a guardianship from voting, others take the position that disenfranchising people with mental impairments violates their civil rights. This raises an interesting debate as what happens when the person trying to vote can't adequately cast a vote on their own or can't adequately convey to a poll worker which way they want to vote. Seems to me that you have to know who you're casting a vote for, but that's a tricky standard and one that shouldn't be vigorously enforced at the whim of a poll worker.

Another question many people have is whether it is legal in Arkansas for a campaign volunteer to drive a person to the poll, such as an elderly person who lives alone without transportation. According to Ark. Code Ann. § 7-1-104(4), it is okay so long as they are not offered any money, goods, wares or merchandise for the purpose of influencing the person's vote.