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Date: | Sat, 25 Aug 2001 16:35:14 -0500 |
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the momentum is building for national legislation.
Kelly
The New York times
Editorial
AUG 18, 2001
Voting With Disabilities
The fact that the nation's elections are not quite state-of-the-art may
have come as a surprise to many Americans in the aftermath of last
November's presidential vote. But it was hardly news to the millions of
citizens with disabilities, who for years have been struggling to get
local
election officials to grant them equal access to the polls. Congress must
address their concerns as it takes up election reform this fall.
Some states have found that more than 40 percent of their polling places
are not fully accessible. Even where polls are accessible, the ballot
most
often is not, at least not for blind voters to cast a secret vote on
their
own. To make matters worse, poorly trained poll workers often deny these
individuals their right to designate the person they would like to help
them in the voting booth.
The Americans With Disabilities Act, the 11- year-old law that has
improved
access to public places for disabled people, does not presently cover all
voting places and practices. Hence the need for election reform
legislation
to mandate equal access. President Bush should support a strong federal
role in protecting the disability community's voting rights. He had a
strong record on this issue as governor of Texas. In 1999 he signed a
bill
that requires any new voting systems purchased in the state to be fully
accessible. Recently Harris County, the nation's third-largest, spent $25
million to replace its old punch-card machines with an electronic system
with audible features that enable blind voters to cast a ballot
unassisted.
Texas has made great strides, but the federal government must compel
action
elsewhere. The rights of voters with disabilities to cast a ballot and
have
it count must not hinge on where they happen to live.
People with disabilities should also benefit from broader election
reforms
designed to protect everyone's vote, such as the right to cast a
provisional ballot and better-trained poll workers. But the community's
difficulties in removing barriers to polling places should give pause to
those who argue that state and local governments ought to be encouraged,
rather than required, to make changes. After all, Congress has already
passed a law encouraging local election officials to make polling places
accessible. That was 17 years ago.
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