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Stop the White House Ban on Help for Disabled Voters

He knew exactly who he wanted to vote for. He just struggled to hold the pen.

New reporting from ProPublica shared the story of a veteran, living with a traumatic brain injury, who got help updating his voter paperwork from a Nebraska disability rights attorney. That kind of help is nonpartisan and Congress has funded it for more than 20 years. Now the White House wants to kill it.

Trump's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has proposed a rule that would bar anyone from using federal grant money for voter registration drives or vaguely defined "related activities." That would threaten the 57 nonprofits Congress funds to help people with disabilities register and vote in every state. It would also trap groups that help people sign up for Medicaid or food assistance, which federal law already requires to offer voter registration.

A man using a mobility device at an indoor event with American flags.

Voting is already harder for Americans with disabilities. In 2024, roughly 740,000 registered voters with disabilities reported trouble just getting registered. Nursing home residents, people without cars or internet, and people who can't write without help are among those who would lose out.

This isn't about party. At one rural assisted living facility, the new voters one group registered were 30 percent Republican, 20 percent Democrat, and half independent or third party. A former OMB general counsel called the plan "a massive across-the-board power grab." Congress set aside this money to help people vote, and the White House budget office shouldn't be able to erase that on its own.

OMB set October 1 as its target for finishing this rule. That date is almost here. Experts warn that once it's final, confusion could lead nonprofits, colleges, and benefits offices to pause or scale back registering voters.

The rule isn't final, and OMB Director Vought can still drop the ban. Congress already decided every eligible American deserves help to vote. Vought doesn't get to overrule it with the stroke of a pen.

Thanks for all that you do,
Matt from the Swarm