Voting tough for disabled

By BETTY EASLER

Guest columnist

After studying the issues and candidates, I went to vote on primary day. Upon arrival at the polling place, I was again reminded that most people who use wheelchairs, as I do, still can’t use voting machines without assistance.

An individual I did not know was appointed by the poll manager to assist me. However, because my vote was not visible to me, I have no assurance that the vote was cast for the candidate of my choice.

Most people consider voting a right that is easy to execute. But for those of us with disabilities and special needs, hearing, visual and speech impairments, as well as for many senior citizens, exercising our voting rights is often difficult and exasperating.

Despite state and federal laws that require polling places to accommodate voters with disabilities, more than half the polling places in South Carolina have access barriers in polling place architecture, equipment or both.

Experience has shown me that seniors and persons with disabilities often must wait while an absentee ballot is secured from the appropriate authority and brought to their cars by a poll watcher, who looks on while the vote is cast. The ballot is turned over to the poll watcher with absolutely no assurance that the vote will be counted. I once had to wait an hour for election officials to find an absentee ballot for me to use.

Nationwide, the Federal Election Commission reports that 20,000 polling places have some kind of barrier, depriving individuals with disabilities of a basic American right. One study found that people with disabilities are 20 percent less likely to vote and 10 percent less likely to register to vote than the non-disabled.

It’s not because we don’t care about basic civic responsibilities or keep up with government. In fact, people with disabilities and their families are better-informed simply because governmental decisions affect us more directly than most. But voting barriers literally are too hard to cross for many citizens with disabilities, and they just don’t try.

Consider: If people with disabilities voted at the same rate as other citizens, 10 million more votes would have been cast in the last presidential election.

In a recent column on this page, Gov. Mark Sanford wrote, “In life, attitude has to change before you can change results.” In this case, it appears attitudes are changing.

I was heartened by the state’s intention to retrofit over a period of time all South Carolina polling places with new, modern voting machines. Among other improvements, these machines are much friendlier to people with disabilities. Portable machines can be taken out to vehicles where individuals can cast their vote, and they are equipped with Braille and large print for the blind or visually impaired.

The plan was to have these modern machines put in the 10 counties that currently use paper ballots by the November election date, with the other counties phasing them in over time. The federal government is even paying for them.

Through the procurement process, eight election officials chose a company to install the machines. But the companies that did not get the bid challenged that decision, and the process is being held up. Moreover, a new bid process has been ordered. All of this opens the possibility that the process will not be completed in time to install the voting machines by Election Day.

If the state fails to get the new machines in place this year, it will cost the 10 counties about $2 million. But the cost to people with disabilities will be much higher. We again will have to navigate the maze of barriers that work to disenfranchise us from a fundamental right, and that would be a shame.

Ms. Easler is vice president and managing editor of Enabledonline.com and president of Easler & Associates Consulting. She has been a lifelong advocate for people with disabilities and special needs. She may be reached at BEASOCA@aol.com.