The Effect of Gender and Race on the Political Participation of People With Disabilities in the 1994 Mid-Term Election

Abstract

Research on voter turnout has uncovered important differences in the voting patterns of subgroups of the American polity. Here, we report an analysis of the 1994 Current Population Survey-Voter Supplement, indicating that once demographic factors such as income and educational attainment are controlled for, men with disabilities are less likely to register than are women with disabilities and nondisabled persons, while women with disabilities are less likely to actually vote. Both men and women with disabilities, however, are more likely to vote than are nondisabled individuals. After socioeconomic factors are controlled for, African-American women have the highest probability of registering and voting, and Caucasian men and women with disabilities have the lowest registration and voting rates. For all groups, the likelihood of registering and voting increases with educational attainment, but the differences between the probabilities are greater at lower levels of educational attainment.