WHAT WILL "THEY" WANT TO DO NEXT??? Be on the House Judiaciary Committee??

Bobby



>>Published Tuesday, December 1, 1998, in the Miami Herald
>>------------------------------------------------------------
>================================
> Retarded man's vote questioned
>================================
>
>>ST. PETERSBURG -- (AP) -- William J. Kennedy cherishes his right to vote
>>and proudly sports his "I voted" sticker on his wheelchair. He loves to
>>follow current affairs on television.
>>
>>But the 56-year-old St. Petersburg resident caused a stir when he showed up
>>to cast his ballot in the fall election.
>>
>>He is mildly retarded, with an IQ tested at 62.
>>
>>Advocates say encouraging retarded people to vote helps them become
>>functioning members of society, taking control of their lives. But some
>>poll workers question whether Kennedy's vote and the votes of other
>>retarded citizens are being manipulated.
>>
>>"There is no way that man knew what he was doing. He was just laughing and
>>laughing and laughing," said Alberta McGowan, a poll worker who saw Kennedy
>>vote. "The man could not walk. He could not write. He could not talk. He
>>could not differentiate between right and wrong or one person from
>>another."
>>
>>McGowan said she watched staffers from Pinellas Association for Retarded
>>Citizens (PARC) bring a number of retarded citizens to her precinct, and
>>listened as two women from the agency helped Kennedy and another voter in
>>the booth.
>>
>>"She said, "You want to vote for Bush, don't you? You like Bush. Don't you
>>like Bush?' I never heard her even mention Buddy MacKay's name," McGowan
>>said. "This is a disgrace, taking advantage of those illiterate people like
>>that."
>>
>>PARC officials -- including one of the women McGowan watched -- strongly
>>denied they swayed any of their clients' voting and said McGowan must have
>>misunderstood.
>>
>>Developmentally disabled citizens are eligible to vote unless a court has
>>specifically found them to be mentally incompetent, which is rare. But
>>concern about retarded citizens voting is not unusual.
>>
>>The issue is bubbling up more frequently as social workers increasingly
>>encourage retarded citizens to become more active participants in society.
>>Disabilities laws also have made it easier to vote, and the "motor voter"
>>law of 1993 is pushing state social service agencies to register their
>>residents to vote.
>>
>>Selena Roe, director of the PARC apartments where Kennedy lives, said some
>>of the concerns stem from people not understanding retarded citizens. For
>>instance, she said, Kennedy's mental capacity to some people might seem
>>worse than it is because he has cerebral palsy and is difficult to
>>understand.
>>
>>"You get into very dangerous ground when you start saying someone who's
>>different should not be able to vote," Roe said.
>>
>>And Pinellas Supervisor of Elections Dorothy Ruggles is not particularly
>>worried about retarded citizens voting.
>>
>>"We run into this question a lot, just as we do with people in nursing
>>homes who are taken in to vote," she said.
>>
>>"It's a touchy issue, but I don't have any jurisdiction over that if the
>>person hasn't been declared mentally incompetent. . . . I know it means an
>>awful lot to them to vote, and they do pay attention -- sometimes more than
>>you and I do."