SU groups to survey polling sites on Election Day for compliance with voting laws for people with disabilities

SU groups to survey polling sites on Election Day for compliance with voting laws for people with disabilitiesNovember 02, 2005Jaclyn D. Grossojgrosso@law.syr.edu

Volunteers from Syracuse University’s Center on Human Policy, Law, and Disability Studies and its affiliated clinic, SU College of Law’s Public Interest Law Firm; ARISE; and SU student organizations concerned with accessibility of polling sites for voters with disabilities will survey more than 60 polling places in Onondaga County on Election Day, Nov. 8, to identify non-accessible polling sites and work with the Board of Elections to ensure that all county polling places are accessible, in accordance with the Help America Vote Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Organizations will check polling sites for barriers such as stairs, lack of or poorly designated accessible parking, no directional signage, heavy doors, narrow hallways or lack of instructions on voting in Braille or other alternative formats.

Preliminary survey results will be made available to the public and media at 3 p.m. at the Manlius Fire Station polling place, Pompey Center Road, Manlius. Survey results will identify barriers to access for voters with disabilities. Voters with disabilities and SU faculty and students will discuss the findings.

The survey is made possible by the Center on Human Policy, Law, and Disability Studies and the Public Interest Law Firm, in collaboration with ARISE, SU student groups, SU’s Beyond Compliance Coordinating Committee and the disAbility Law Society.

For more information, contact Rebecca Russo at the Center on Human Policy, Law, and Disability Studies at (315) 443-2926 or Beata Karpinska-Prehn at ARISE at 671-2929.