Poll access limited for disabled

Dependent on a motorized wheelchair to get around, Richard Hewitt found his effort to vote Tuesday blocked by a 4-inch parking-lot curb.

The 66-year-old man, who has muscular dystrophy, managed to get into the Cape Girardeau polling place -- Bethany Baptist Church -- only after he and his wife returned home to fetch a small, homemade wooden ramp. The ramp allowed him to get over the curb and into the lower level of the church at 1712 Randol Ave., where votes were being cast.

"It's frustrating," said his wife, Judy Hewitt.

Said Richard Hewitt, "It just aggravated me. It is my understanding that it is federal law that polling places should be handicapped accessible and this one isn't."

Richard Hewitt isn't alone in finding it hard to get into the polls.

Many physically disabled people find it difficult to get into polling places throughout Missouri, said Michael Edwards, who works for a federally funded center in Columbia, Mo., that seeks to educate people on handicapped accessibility under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Edwards headed up a study this summer that looked at Missouri's 3,600 polling places, including those in Cape Girardeau County.

About 70 percent to 80 percent of polling places in the urban areas of St. Louis and Kansas City typically were accessible, he said. But in some rural areas as few as 10 percent of polling places were accessible to the handicapped, the survey showed.

Even some of the polling places at old elementary schools in St. Louis were difficult for disabled voters to enter, Edwards said. Many of the school buildings look alike. "They are all built up on a hill. They all have stairs going to them," he said.

In Cape Girardeau County, Edwards estimated that only about 50 percent of the polling places were easily accessible to physically disabled voters.

Edwards and Miki Gudermuth, director of the SEMO Alliance for Disability Independence in Cape Girardeau, said federal law requires local governments to make polling places accessible to disabled people.

But Patty Schlosser, Cape Girardeau County elections supervisor, said state election officials have made it clear that polling places in Missouri don't have to be accessible.

Gudermuth strongly disagrees. "They don't understand the law," said Gudermuth, who helped survey local polling places for the statewide report on accessibility.

ADA requires "reasonable accommodations" to allow physically disabled people access to the ballot box, she said.

The federal law has existed for more than 14 years, Edwards said, "but the problem is a lack of enforcement."

The ADA is enforced on a complaint basis. That adds to the problem because many disabled people won't file a complaint, Gudermuth said.

Schlosser said the Cape Girardeau County clerk's office rarely hears complaints about accessibility. Hewitt complained to local election officials last week. Schlosser said he was the only disabled voter who did so.

Gudermuth and Edwards said accessibility remains a problem at polling places statewide despite a new federal law, the Help America Vote Act enacted in 2002, that includes provisions to improve accessibility for disabled voters.

Starting in 2006, election officials nationwide will have to provide at least one voting machine per precinct that is accessible to physically disabled voters, U.S. Department of Justice officials said earlier this year.

Meanwhile, many of Missouri's polling places have door thresholds that stand 2 to 3 inches above the sidewalk, making it difficult for voters in wheelchairs to get inside, Edwards said.

Too many polling places have knob door handles, which are difficult for disabled people to open, he said, and some doors also are too heavy.

At rural polling places, most parking lots are gravel, Edwards said. Those voters in wheelchairs or who use walkers have difficulty managing the gravel surface.

"That is going to be a hard one for county clerks to fix," Edwards said.

There aren't enough disabled parking spaces at some polling places in Cape Girardeau County, Gudermuth said. "Sometimes doorways are too narrow," she said.

Gudermuth said the county clerk's office, which supervises Cape Girardeau County elections, should consider relocating some polling places to buildings that are more easily accessible to disabled people.

Many polling places in Missouri are held in churches, which aren't required to be accessible, Gudermuth said. But Gudermuth and Edwards said local election officials still have a responsibility to make sure that disabled voters have access to the polls.

The accessibility problem isn't confined to polling places in churches. Access to the voting booths on the lower level of the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse in Jackson is difficult for voters with walkers or those in wheelchairs, Gudermuth said.

Watering hoses often are found across the sidewalk to the lower-level entrance to the courthouse, she said. "It's a hazard to someone walking or with low vision. Wheelchair wheels get caught on the hose," she wrote in the survey.

Gudermuth said local election officials could make most polling places more accessible simply by renting portable ramps.

Cape Girardeau County election officials said state law allows for physically disabled voters to cast ballots in their vehicles if they can't get inside the polling places.

According to that law, two election judges -- one a Republican and the other a Democrat -- will bring a ballot to any disabled voter parked within 200 feet of a polling place. The voter is required to sign an affidavit. Once the voter marks the ballot, it is put into a special envelope and taken back into the polling place, Schlosser said.

An estimated eight to 10 voters used curbside voting in Tuesday's presidential election in Cape Girardeau County, she said.

But Richard and Judy Hewitt said election judges never told them about the state law.

In the August primary election, Richard Hewitt did vote from his vehicle after his wife sought assistance from election judges inside the Bethany Baptist Church polling place.

But the Hewitts said the election judges didn't tell them that curbside voting was a right under state law. "I thought they did it as a favor," Richard Hewitt said.

Judy Hewitt said the election judges weren't certain at first if they could even bring a ballot to her husband.

Edwards said state law also allows voters to cast their ballots at another polling place that is accessible if they physically aren't able to get into their regular polling places. Voters, in such cases, must notify election authorities ahead of the election so they can make the necessary arrangements, he said.

But Edwards said local election officials across the state typically don't educate voters about accessibility rights.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123