In November, American voters will head to the polls for the 2004 Presidential Election. N.O.D. President Alan Reich has written to declared major party candidates beginning last summer, asking them what they will to do to reach out to voters with disabilities.

The 54 million Americans who have disabilities of every type and degree represent about one-fifth of the U.S. population. Traditionally, they have voted at a lower rate than other Americans, hovering around the one-third mark; but in 2000, an aggressive get-out-the-vote campaign by N.O.D. and other disability advocates and organizations helped to boost this to 41 percent. The closeness of the 2000 Presidential race proved that no vote can be taken for granted; and the confusion following that election has led to election reform.

The Help America Vote Act, enacted in the fall of 2002, includes provisions specifically intended to break down the barriers that have faced voters with disabilities: difficulties in registering to vote, and challenges accessing polling places and voting machines. Between this new law, the access to public buildings promised by the Americans with Disabilities Act, and advances in technology that make a confidential ballot possible for ever more people, Americans with disabilities will be a force in the 2004 elections at every level.

That is why N.O.D. President Alan Reich wrote to the candidates, asking them to focus on issues that are important to the disability community. We heard from most of the campaigns, and they reflected awareness of the importance of reaching out to voters with disabilities - and aware of the overwhelmingly positive impact connecting with these voters will have. After all, most voters at least have a friend or relative who has a disability, so progress benefits all.

The links below, which will be updated as new information becomes available from the campaigns, will lead to their main campaign websites, to each candidate's posted online statements about disability-specific issues, and to their responses to inquiries from other disability organizations. The links are in alphabetical order, and no specific links nor number of links imply an endorsement of a particular candidate by the National Organization on Disability, a non-partisan organization.

	George W. Bush www.georgewbush.com Bush's New Freedom Initiative Bush on health care Bush's Responses to Questions from the American Association of People with Disabilities
	John Kerry www.johnkerry.com Press Release on Kerry's Disability Policy Platform Americans with Disabilities for Kerry-Edwards Kerry on health care Kerry Commemorates Fifth Anniversary of Olmstead Decision Kerry's Responses to Questions from the American Association of People with Disabilities

View a complete list of Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates, as well as links to their respective web sites.