Thursday, April 19, 2001



       Suit says polling places not geared to handicapped



       By Joseph A. Slobodzian
      INQUIRER STAFF WRITER



       A national disabilities rights group today sued the
      Philadelphia city and election officials for failing to make
      more than a fraction of polling places accessible to people
      who are blind or who use wheelchairs.

      The National Organization on Disability filed suit in federal
      court in Philadelphia on behalf of nine disabled registered
      voters who contend the city's policies for locating polling
      places violates the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990.

      Joining in the suit with the Washington, D.C.-based group are
      Liberty Resources Inc., a city-based disabilities rights
      organization, the Pennsylvania Council of the Blind and the
      National Federation of the Blind of Pennsylvania.

      The lawsuit contends that only 46 of 1,681 polling places in
      the city are accessible to people who use wheelchairs and
      none are equipped with audio devices that announce the ballot
      choices to people who are blind.

      Moreover, the suit continues, when the city in October 1999
      asked for bids to provide about $19.3 million worth of new
      electronic voting machines their proposal never asked or
      required bidders to include the audio technology.

      Edward V. Schulgen, a deputy city commissioner, said city
      election officials have been trying to improve the
      accessibility of polling places but have been hindered by a
      lack of wheelchair-accessible sites in each of the city's 681
      voting divisions.

      "We can't force anyone to take on a polling place," Schulgen
      said.

      Schulgen said the use of audio systems for blind voters would
      require legislative change to the Pennsylvania election code
      because it would mean a different type of ballot.

      "In some ways we are really just hamstrung by the election
      code," Schulgen added.

      Thomas H. Earle, an attorney with the Disabilities Law
      Project in Philadelphia, who is one of lawyers involved in
      the suit, called Schulgen's response "a bunch of bunk."

      "The ADA has been around for 10 years," Earle said. "If they
      had 1,200 polling places that were accessible, I don't think
      you would see any disabled people complaining or filing suit.
      But 46? They're nowhere near an acceptable number."

      The lawsuit seeks a court order prohibiting the city from
      leasing any more polling places that are not accessible to
      people in wheelchairs, or from buying any new voting machines
      that are not equipped with audio technology for blind
      voters."

      Although disabled voters may vote by absentee ballot, Earle
      said that is not an acceptable alternative to accessible
      polling places.

      "They want to participate in the electoral process just like
      their neighbors," Earle added. "They want to go to their
      local polling place and cast their ballot independently . . .
      I can't imagine any other minority group being told they have
      to accept absentee ballots as an acceptable alternative to
      voting in person."


      Joseph A. Slobodzian's e-mail address is
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