Voting Easier for Disabled Even Though Accessibility Problems Remain

posted on Nov 11 by Stacy in the Disability News, Wheelchair Accessibility category

Last year during election day, the Government Accountability Office sent investigators to 720 polling places around the country to see if people with disabilities, such as wheelchair users, or blind voters, could cast a ballot.

There were some barriers, like parking and accessibility of the actual voting booths in many of the polling places. However, the results were a definite improvement over what investigators found when they were surveying in 2000. Over ninety-five percent of polling places had voting technology that allowed people who could not read, were blind, or needed the text read to them for another reason. In 2000, less than one percent of polling places had these accessible features!! The large increase in accessible voting places was because the government passed the Help America Vote Act which mandated accessible voting stations and helped the polling places finance the new technology.

The Government Accountability Office recommended in their reports that more effort be made to increase accessibility, especially for voters in wheelchairs. As the population ages and mobility disability is on the rise, more and more people will need accommodation when voting.

If you have a disability, have you encountered accessibility issues at polling stations?