Access for the disabled
Cleveland Plain Dealer  January 22, 2005

Between 5 percent and 10 per cent of all voters have a disability, but most polling places are less than welcoming, despite a 20-year-old law requiring accessibility. Physical accessibility and the right to independently cast a secret vote are the law, so voters with poor vision or other physical impairments must be able to vote without help.

PROBLEMS: Polling locations lacked wheelchair access. Long lines were hard on elderly voters and those with health problems. "Curbside" voting a requirement of state law sometimes was denied because of poll worker shortage or ignorance. 
 

REFORMS: Clear barriers to voting machines, improve poll worker training and improve planning and procedures to ease the process for voters with mobility problems.

Jim Dickson, a national voting expert with the American Association of Disabled People, said about half of access problems can be fixed with a little forethought.

The new federal law requires each polling location to have at least one fully accessible voting device by 2006 a standard that optical-scan devices do not meet. Ohio will comply by requiring one electronic machine at each polling place. These offer the best solution for physically and visually handicapped voters because they can be adapted to accommodate a range of disabilities, though advocates worry one machine won't be adequate.

More absentee balloting and early voting does not solve problems at the polls, advocates add. "We want the right to be able to vote where everyone else votes when everyone else votes," Dickson said.