While poll workers’ responsibilities differ in Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York, all report having new, sometimes onerous responsibilities to battle Covid-19 contagion. Covid is also causing concerns about polling employee shortages, though an elections official in Pennsylvania reports that conducting trainings online instead of in-person enabled more people than usual to sign up.
As part of a workforce training initiative funded by federal coronavirus relief money, a group of nonprofits that support people searching for jobs in the IT sector are offering free training targeted to people with disabilities and other underemployed populations. The Precisionists, a disability employment advocacy organization, is spearheading the outreach and training for people with disabilities.
At least 25 states have correctional systems that use substandard screening tools for intellectual and developmental disabilities, according to several mental health and legal experts interviewed by journalists with the nonprofit Marshall Project. Five other state systems do not screen for intellectual or developmental disabilities, including Delaware. If prison administrators are unaware of an inmate’s disability, the inmate can be at increased risk of assault or sexual exploitation, errors in medical care and denial of legal and educational opportunities.
The Disabilities Law Program of Community Legal Aid Society, Inc. and Widener Law School will provide volunteers to observe Delaware polling places and ensure voting rights for individuals with disabilities are protected. CLASI is also collecting direct voter feedback and is asking voters who wish to share their election day experiences to call the Disabilities Law Program.
Philadelphia resident Walter Wallace Jr. was shot to death multiple times by multiple police officers while holding a knife. Wallace was experiencing what his family described as a mental crisis, which they say they relayed to officers before the shooting. The Philadelphia police commissioner said that the department needs to develop a behavioral health unit and work more closely with community mental health organizations.
