Polling sites surveyed (5/6/04)

An effort to determine the accessibility of polling sites in Jay County and around the state has uncovered some glaring deficiencies.

During voting hours Tuesday, a team of volunteers paid visits to each of Jay County’s 20 polling sites (comprised of 21 precincts) and reviewed a lengthy checklist of factors determining accessibility to those with disabilities.

While all surveys have not been reviewed, at least one of the survey volunteers said, as expected, many of the locations where Jay County residents vote have significant accessibility challenges — especially in terms of parking and entry into the buildings where voting takes place.

The survey, which has been mandated at the federal level, is a requirement under the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) passed in 2002. The goal of HAVA is to allow, by 2006, any person with a disability to vote without assistance in his or her own precinct. On Tuesday, survey teams in approximately 40 Indiana counties surveyed each polling site. The remaining 50 or so counties will conduct surveys during the Nov. 2 general election.

Jay County clerk Jane Ann Runyon said Wednesday that she’s not sure what would happen if the daunting task of making the county’s polling places accessible is not accomplished. The answer from state officials: Not much. Counties that aren’t in compliance with the law risk lawsuits, but aren’t likely to face sanctions from the state or federal government.

Rogers Durham, who surveyed polling places in six townships (Bearcreek, Wabash, Noble, Madison, Pike and Jefferson) and who has long been active in issues regarding those with disabilities, said the process is an important one.

“I think the process is valuable because it showed the glaring inadequacy of the polling sites,” Durham said Wednesday afternoon during a brief visit with Runyon.

Also conducting surveys Tuesday were three staff-client teams from Jay-Randolph Developmental Services Inc.

Runyon, who helped coordinate the survey and who serves on a statewide committee regarding accessibility issues, said she hasn’t had much discussion with the volunteers regarding the results.

But having visited each of the sites, Runyon knows there are problems.

“It will be virtually impossible for every single precinct” to fully meet accessibility standards, Runyon said Wednesday. “There’s going to have to be some combining of precincts.”

Cam Savage, a spokesperson for Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita, said this morning that the state is hopeful that local elected officials can look for “creative solutions” to accessibility issues.

“Now for the first time we’re going to have an honest look at what the situation is,” Savage said. He agreed with Runyon’s assessment that in some cases precincts might have to be combined, polling sites changed or physical improvements made.

Savage admitted that few sanctions have been laid out for counties that do not comply, but said the state is hoping counties will work hard at solving access problems.

Among the recurring problems discovered by Durham were unpaved parking lots, unmarked and/or inadequate parking spaces for the handicapped, a lack of ramps into doorways and door handles that could not be opened without assistance.

Durham said that once inside, there were fewer accessibility problems and that poll workers were helpful and accommodating.

Among the six sites surveyed by Durham, he said the Bryant Community Center (Bearcreek precinct) came the closest to compliance with accessibility standards. The major flaws at Bryant, he said, were handicap parking spaces that were too narrow and an inadequate door handle.

Durham said that long-time workers at most of the six locations he visited said they rarely, if ever, see someone in a wheelchair.

Runyon said that Julia Vaughn, the coordinator of the statewide survey project, says that people with disabilities avoid voting at the polls most of the time because of the hassle involved.

Each of the 12 townships in Jay County currently has at least one polling site — with seven in Wayne Township (in and around Portland) and four in Richland Township (Dunkirk and Redkey). Currently, the only location in Jay County that conducts voting for two precincts is the West Jay Community Center, where residents in the Dunkirk 1 and Dunkirk 3 precincts cast their ballots.

The most glaring deficiencies — and likely the most expensive to fix — are at polling sites in townships without an incorporated town (Wabash, Noble, Pike, Jefferson, Greene, Knox and Jackson).

Many townships in Jay County do not have a public building that meets the accessibility standards. One obstacle to simply merging township polling sites — in addition to resistance from residents — is a state law that requires that residents vote within one mile of their township border. Savage said that state law currently — and will in 2006 and beyond — also allows counties to designate one or more polling sites that are accessible.

State law currently allows county commissioners to designate accessible facilities, but that provision is set to expire in 2006 when the 100 percent requirement goes into effect.

JRDS employee Joanna Garlinger, who surveyed five polling places with client Michelle Hostetler, said that unpaved lots at rural sites were a major problem. She also agreed with Durham that, in general, poll workers were welcoming.

The sites surveyed by Garlinger and Hostetler included the Indiana National Guard Armory in Portland, Portland Moose, Union Chapel Church between Bryant and Pennville, the Pennville Community Building and the Greene Township Community Building.

After receiving the surveys from the volunteers, Runyon will make copies and forward them to the Indiana Secretary of State’s office, which governs elections in the state.

State officials will compile and make a report on the survey results, then will send that report to Jay County Commissioners and Runyon.

Runyon, who has previously discussed combining two or more precincts at one polling site with the commissioners, said that some tax dollars may have to be spent to make polling sites accessible to those with disabilities.

But if that money is spent, Runyon said that she would urge the commissioners to enter into relatively long-term agreements on use of the polling sites.

Another option discussed previously by the commissioners and Runyon regarding polling places is the possible use of schools. Schools, which are used in many Indiana counties as polling sites — but not in Jay County — are already substantially in compliance regarding accessibility.

Savage said today that Indiana law does require that schools allow voting if asked by county officials.

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For more information about accessibility or general election issues in Indiana: Phone (800) 622-4941 or log on to www.IN.gov/sos/elections/hava/[[In-content Ad]]