TURNERS FALLS — During an impromptu roundtable discussion about the importance of voting, United Arc member Mary Fernsebner explained her passion for voting to the group.
“It’s my human right,” she said.
Fernsebner, who also sits on the board of directors for the agency that serves people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, said she likes to read about the candidates for an election in the newspaper and has full intention of voting this November. So Director of Adult Services Brian Ross asked her if she would go back to her friends and share her excitement, along with the importance of being educated at the polls.
Fernsebner replied definitively, “Yes, because I love to vote.”
At The Arc’s center on Avenue A in Turners Falls, it welcomed clientele and community members to come in and register to vote as a part of National Disability Voter Registration Week. The event, in part, is run through the REV UP Campaign, which help people with disabilities register to vote and educate them.
The voter registration effort kicked off Monday and will run through Friday, as other branches of The Arc across the state participate in the campaign. Leadership in the Turners facility said they believe they are the only center in Massachusetts that is holding a special registration event for the community.
“It’s a backup to our mission, for full community,” Executive Director Lynne Bielecki said. “To exercise your right to vote is a part of being in the community — whomever would like to exercise the right to vote should have the tools.”
Bialecki emphasized the importance of keeping their clientele engaged with politics as Legislative representation for the area will change dramatically this November, with the departures of Stan Rosenberg and Stephen Kulik, and the death of Peter Kocot.
“We certainly want to encourage those who fill those three vacant seats that they understand what those issues are and make sure we have the same support of those issues as we have had,” Bielecki said.
Annually, The Arc takes its members to meet members of the Legislature to advocate for their issues. Fernsebner said this meeting is a way that gets her further engaged in the political process and helps it feel more relatable to her.
“We’ve talked to the legislators, but we really want to encourage people who care about disability issues so they’re empowered to vote,” Development & Events Coordinator Saera Hanlon said.
While, like the rest of the country, voting goes up in the year of a national election, Ross said they try to make sure they educate members about the power of local elections, too, and having your voice heard there.
Board Member Janice Herlihy said that some in the public may not think that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities should be voting. She countered, saying in the commonwealth, it is in fact their right despite some misconceptions out there.
“There have been a lot of reasons for why people haven’t registered to the extent they want,” Herlihy said. “We’re trying to follow up with education on the issues.”
Part of the message the organizers of the event are trying to get across is that Arc clients are entitled to vote but to make it clear that it’s important to be educated in going to the polls and not to take the power to vote lightly.
“This event doesn’t just educate individuals we have the privilege of working with and their families, but also, hopefully it gets everyone to stop and think, you know, ‘I have that right, but I haven’t been exercising it,’” Bialecki said.
Reach Joshua Solomon at:
jsolomon@recorder.com
413-772-0261, ext. 264