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Voting Discrimination
Report (Continued from Page 1)
Brief descriptions of a few of the complaints
include the following:
- Complainant (#52) had voted by absentee ballot
for the past seven years. She/he voted by absentee ballot on Primary Day 2004.
She/he called the local Board of Elections on three separate occasions and was
promised an absentee ballot in time for Election Day 2004. She/he received the
ballot late and was denied the right to vote.
- Complainant (#45) brought his/her voting card to
the polling site and the poll workers did not have the complaint registered on
the books. She/he was offered an affidavit ballot. The affidavit ballot had to
be read to the complainant because she/he was blind. This process was conducted
in front of everyone at the polling place, instead of in privacy. The poll
worker read everything out loud for all to hear, including the complainants
voting choice.
- Complainant (#79) received a post card in late
August to notify him/her of the designated polling site. In late October,
she/he received a letter to instruct them of a polling site change. She/he
immediately called the Board of Elections. She/he was told to contact someone
from their political party to arrange transportation to the new site. The
complainant informed them that she/he used a wheelchair. No accessible vehicles
were available. The late notice made it impossible to arrange a ride to the new
polling place and therefore denied him/her the right to vote.
- Complainant (#43) encountered a step at the
entrance of a polling site while in their wheelchair. It had a piece of
½ - inch thick plywood laid down as a ramp. She/he felt it was too
dangerous to attempt to enter and was therefore denied the right to vote.
- Complainant (#1) asked for an accessible voting
booth and was sent to a standard booth with levers and curtain. It was too high
to reach all levers and read all names on the ballot. They gave the complainant
a print-out of the ballot. As she/he started to vote, the supervisor came over
and offered to lower the machine. It malfunctioned and only lowered half an
inch. This did not improve access to the machine or ballot. The poll workers
admitted that they learned about the machine, but couldn't remember because
they didn't think anyone would need it.
Under HAVA, states must follow new federal
requirements including provisional ballots, statewide computer voter lists, and
disability access of machines at polling sites, including the ability of
persons who are blind or visually impaired to be able to vote independently and
confidentially. In addition, all states must comply with Section 504 of the
Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regarding
accessibility of polling sites, voting systems and ballots.
Lacking an agreement about ways to amend State
Election Law in order to bring it within compliance, the stalemate has frozen
the release of almost a quarter of a billion dollars in federal HAVA monies. In
addition, New York has to comply with certain HAVA requirements whether or not
it gets the federal funding. So the states failure to act would shift the cost
of mandated election reform solely on the backs of New York State
taxpayers.
Michael Godino, a member of NYSILC concluded, "State
lawmakers have a moral and legal obligation to ensure full access to the voting
process for New Yorkers with disabilities." |
