Around the country, between August and November, Americans will cast ballots in primary and general elections for state, city and county officials and members of Congress, and on propositions and initiatives.

For American citizens over age 18, this is the time to make your voice heard. But with voter apathy rampant in this country, all of us, including people with disabilities, may forget that elections give us the opportunity to have an impact on public policy. If you aren't participating, here's what to do.

REGISTER

You can register up until 30 days before the election in every state, even later in some states. There are many ways to register:

• Go by your state or county election office and register.
  
  
• Call an election office or a local office of the League of Women Voters and get a mail-in voter registration form. You can download the forms from many election offices' Web sites.
  
  
• Take advantage of the National Voter Registration Act, the "Motor Voter Law," passed in 1993. It says you should receive a voter registration form any time you apply for or renew a driver's license.
  
  
• Don't drive? The Motor Voter Law also requires government agencies dealing with state or federal public assistance programs, military recruitment or services to people with disabilities to offer voter registration when you register for services. (A handful of states are exempt from the Motor Voter Law because they allow registration at the polls as well as ahead of time.)
  
  
• Voter registration is offered at some public libraries, other government offices, shopping malls and elsewhere. Some states even permit online registration.

INFORM YOURSELF

Once you register to vote, you'll be told where your designated polling place is and be sent information about the upcoming elections. You can also follow newspaper, radio and television reports; watch televised debates; attend public speeches; or call campaign headquarters.

In order to find out if candidates are committed to issues related to disability, you can ask about:

• Proposed repeal of the Americans With Disabilities Act
  
  
• Enforcement of the ADA in such areas as housing, public accommodations, transportation or employment
  
  
• Federal funding of research on neuromuscular diseases
  
  
• Sponsorship of H.R. 2009, a bill to benefit people with ALS
  
  
• Public school compliance with requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and supports to assist students with disabilities
  
  
• Statewide consumer protection laws for members of managed care insurance plans

You can get more information about current issues in your community from your independent living center or voter registration organizations.

GO TO THE POLLS ....

Federal laws require that polling places for federal elections must be accessible to voters with disabilities. Technically, the requirements only apply to presidential and congressional elections.

The laws also make exceptions if "no such accessible place is available." Increasingly, however, jurisdictions are making a good-faith effort to establish accessible voting places.

Two years ago, Paul Martin of Las Vegas led a survey of the polling locations in Clark County, Nev., at the request of the County Registrar's Office.

"To nobody's surprise, 90 percent of the sites were not accessible," Martin said. But the county has since tried to find at least one polling place in each precinct where it could put ramps in, replace heavy doors, etc. "They are not totally up to code but they are making an effort," said Martin, who has a neuromuscular disease.

Voters in Clark County and some other places can drive up to the county government building on election day, and have someone bring the ballot to the car and help them fill it out. Around the country, many precincts have people available to assist you in marking your ballot or allow you to take someone into the booth with you.

In Dunmore, Pa., Bill Rinaldi has also seen progress. "I would say that, of the 260 voting places in our county, about 80 percent of them are accessible now, as opposed to the 20 percent of them that were accessible 10 years ago."

Rinaldi points out that most polling places are schools, churches, fire stations or other spots that receive minimal rent for being available on election days. Unless the owners of these sites have other motivations for making them accessible, they won't find it cost-effective to do so just for elections.

... OR VOTE FROM HOME

To avoid the issue of accessibility altogether, some disability groups stress the use of absentee ballots.

The Unique People's Voting Project plans to hold a statewide "Permanent Absentee Ballot Day" in October, hoping to get tens of thousands of disabled citizens to cast their votes using the permanent absentee ballot on the same day. (UP can be contacted at (310) 392-3176; E-mail: UPVOTE@AOL.com.)

UP founder Shawn Casey O'Brien says, "What we're telling people is that in one day, for the price of a postage stamp, you can change California politics forever."

Some advocates think the absentee ballot is a poor substitute for going to the polls.

Rinaldi, who has a neuromuscular disease, points out, "You have to send in your absentee ballot in advance of election day in order for it to be counted. A late-breaking item of disclosure is not something that you can factor in."

Rick Twigg, an MDA client and community advocate in Cumberland, Md., agrees that the absentee ballot is a good alternative for those who don't have transportation to the polls.

However, ideally, he says, "We want the same rights to go into that voting booth just like everyone else. And we want to go into that voting booth alone. The voting booths themselves have to be accessible."

WHAT'S THE POINT?

Nationally, 10 percent of all voters have disabilities; yet only about 29 percent of this group votes. Advocates point out that there's a potential voting bloc of some 35 million Americans with disabilities, many times the size of other groups that have a profound influence on elections.