On Oct. 29, 2002, President George W. Bush signed into law a piece of federal legislation now known as the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002 which subsequently created a little known grant program called the Protection & Advocacy for Voter Access (PAVA) given to all states and territories except for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Intended to provide technical and advocacy support on behalf of individuals with disabilities at federal polling places, PAVA funding would not be disbursed to the CNMI due to the fact that we did not have a federal election at the time of its inception. It wasn\u2019t until 2008 when the first federal election was held locally for our very first non-voting delegate to the U.S Congress, Delegate Gregorio \u201cKilili\u201d C. Sablan. <\/p>\n
At present our office, the Northern Marianas Protection & Advocacy Systems, Inc. also known as NMPASI, is working with both the CNMI Congressional office and the National Disability Rights Network (NDRN) in hopes of identifying a simple legislative fix at the federal level to secure the PAVA grant for the CNMI. Sadly and as affirmed by Kilili\u2019s legislative director, \u201cNothing is ever simple or easy with fixing federal legislation\u2026even changing a coma can sometimes be challenging.\u201d Still, we hold out hope that Kilili with technical support from NDRN can find a way to make it happen. As it stands, the legislative fix we seek would translate to a modest $35,000 per year for which NMPASI, as the state-designated agency for protection and advocacy services on behalf of individuals with disabilities, would be eligible to apply and administer for the CNMI.<\/p>\n
What does PAVA do? <\/strong><\/p>\n Basically PAVA requires states and territories to ensure access to voting for people with disabilities by providing the following: NMPASI, in collaboration with the Commonwealth Election Commission, would further provide the following for people with disabilities to better access their right to vote:<\/p>\n \t\u2022\tInformation on HAVA legislation What are my rights as a voter with a disability? \t\u2022\tYou have the right to vote What about voters with cognitive impairment? <\/strong><\/p>\n In the CNMI, only the court may decide that an individual is not competent to vote. Persons assisting voters may not in any way try to influence the voter\u2019s choices. Persons assisting voters must not mark the ballot if the voter cannot communicate his or her intent.<\/p>\n The general election for the CNMI is happening this November and despite the absence of PAVA, folks with special needs are still entitled to the above stated rights under the Help America Vote Act of 2002. If you have any questions regarding these rights, please do not hesitate to contact our Commonwealth Election Commission Office directly @ 664-VOTE (8683) or visit their website at www.votecnmi.gov.mp, and\/or NMPASI @ (670) 235-7273\/4 or visit our website at nmpasi.org. <\/p>\n *** On Oct. 29, 2002, President George W. Bush signed into law a piece of federal…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[26,13430,1502,67],"class_list":["post-236592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion","tag-cnmi","tag-hava","tag-nmpasi","tag-people"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236592\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\t\u2022\tAccessible polling places;
\n\t\u2022\tAccessible ballots;
\n\t\u2022\tAccessible voting equipment;
\n\t\u2022\tIndependence and privacy while voting;
\n\t\u2022\tProtection and advocacy systems to ensure HAVA compliance; and
\n\t\u2022\tAssistance to people with disabilities at voting polls <\/p>\n
\n\t\u2022\tResources on current election laws
\n\t\u2022\tInformation on how to register to vote
\n\t\u2022\tInformation on how to vote
\n\t\u2022\tInformation on eligibility requirements for voting
\n\t\u2022\tTraining and education on HAVA and election laws
\n\t\u2022\tAdvocacy to implement HAVA and other voting rights <\/p>\n
\nAs a voter with a disability, you are entitled to the following:<\/p>\n
\n\t\u2022\tYou have the right to access your local polling place
\n\t\u2022\tYou have the right to cast a secret ballot
\n\t\u2022\tYou have the right to request assistance with marking and casting your ballot
\n\t\u2022\tYou have the right to cast an absentee ballot <\/p>\n
\nJimmy Sablan is a program manager for the Northern Marianas Protection and Advocacy Systems, Inc.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"