Forwarded Action Alert: Public Hearing 3/13 LD 886- Please ask VLA to make it easier for us to vote

Forwarded Action Alert from Maine Disability Alerts:

On Mon March 13 at 10 am, the Veterans and Legal Affairs (VLA) Committee of the Maine Legislature will hold public hearing on LD 886, “An Act to Allow Clerks to Issue Absentee Ballots After the 3rd Business Day Before Election Day to Voters Who Have a Nonphysical Disability and Voters Who Support a Person with a Disability”. Please consider testifying via zoom, in writing, and/or in person (437 State House, Augusta) to make easier for folks like us to vote.
Background:

• Current Maine law has a “blackout period” that doesn’t allow a voter to obtain an absentee ballot after the 3rd business day before election day (usually Thu, Fri, or Mon before election day), with just a few exceptions.
• One exception is that a person with a physical disability (and only a physical disability) is allowed to obtain an absentee ballot even during this “blackout period”. But a person with any other kind of disability can’t.
• This can make it hard to vote for people who have a “non-physical” disability. It can also make it hard to vote for people like parents of children with disabilities when their paid support falls through at the last minute.
• LD 886 would change the law to allow anyone with *any kind* of disability to obtain an absentee ballot even during the blackout period.
• LD 886 would also change the law to allow informal caregivers or parents or guardians providing direct support to a person with a disability to also obtain an absentee ballot during the blackout period.

Please ask the VLA committee to pass LD 886. And if you have a story of it being hard to get to the polls on election day or having trouble voting absentee right before election, please share that story with the committee.
To testify:

• Go to https://www.mainelegislature.org/testimony/
• Click the “Public Hearing” radio button
• Choose “Veterans and Legal Affairs” from the pull-down menu
• Select Mar 13 2023 10:00 AM from the “choose date” pull-down menu
• Select the LD 886 radio button
• Check the “I would like to testify electronically over Zoom” if you want to testify via zoom
• Either upload written testimony or type it into the text box
• Fill out first name, last name, city/town of residence, email address, and phone number
• Check “I’m not a robot” and click the Submit/Register button

If you checked the ‘testify via zoom’ link then you’ll get a zoom link emailed to you. On hearing day you’ll be able to attend as a participant (who can’t talk or turn camera on) until shortly before it’s your turn to testify. When it’s your turn, they’ll “promote” you to a “participant”. Your zoom might look like you’ve lost the connection just momentarily, but then you’ll reappear as a regular participant who can unmute, turn on camera, etc. And you can tell the committee what you think about LD 886. (Senator Hickman, Representative Supica, and Distinguished members of the VLA Committee)

There are four bills scheduled for the 10 am public hearing, with two more bills scheduled for 11 am. So connect at 10, but be prepared to wait for about an hour if take up the other bills first.