General
In Some States, Having a Guardian Means Not Having a Vote
More than a million Americans, many with disabilities, live under a court-approved guardianship. Many states block them from voting.
When Nicole Noblet’s parents told her they planned to move the family to Missouri to retire, she worried that the move from Minnesota could affect her rights. So she did some research.
What she learned dismayed her: Because of the voluntary guardianship she had entered into with her parents, Ms. Noblet, now 32, wouldn’t be allowed to cast a ballot in her new state.
She told her parents she wanted to revisit their legal arrangement, a common one for people with disabilities that allows them to make health care and financial decisions for her. “I said, ‘Nobody is going to take away my right to vote.’”
Missouri is one of at least seven states, according to the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, that says anyone under a guardianship agreement cannot cast a ballot.
Guardianships, also called conservatorships, give a court-approved guardian, who might be a parent, a caretaker or even a public defender, decision-making authority over a person. It may be limited to certain matters, like financial or health care decisions, or it could extend to every facet of the person’s life.
Many of the state laws are decades or even centuries old, and presume that anyone under guardianship is mentally incompetent. Some laws continue to refer to them using outdated and demeaning terms like “idiot,” “lunatic” and “retarded.”
