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CITY HALL NEWS
Few can vote in secret or without assistance
By Carla Zanoni

Many disabled people live in New York City. But this past Primary Day was the first time they were able to vote in private and without assistance, with the new voting machines created to comply with the provisions of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002.

Only 580 of them did.

According to a recent report by the City Council's Committee on Oversight and Investigations, though the machines were easy to use, a mere five percent said they had used the machines because they were disabled or needed to use an accessible machine.

Though new requirements to increase disabled voter accessibility have been imposed by the state, Albany has left figuring out compliance to each of the 62 counties. The root of the problem in the city, according to the Committee report, was a lack of voter outreach and the absence of a coordinated transportation effort. With only weeks to go before Election Day, the committee has called upon the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) to coordinate with the Board of Elections to make improvements. "In a primary where many races were decided by less than 500 votes, we will never know how many people woke up, wanted to vote and were unable to get to the machines," said Eric Gioia (D-Queens), chair of the Committee.

"The MTA was able to create expanded service during the U.S. Open," he added. "Election Day should be taken just as seriously."

The committee recommended that the MTA make Access-A-Ride, its shared ride, door-to-door paratransit service, fully available to disabled voters who cannot use mass transit to get to voting sites.

Gioia described an October 5 meeting between the Board of Elections, the MTA and the mayor's office, and said that parties had been receptive to the report's finding.

"They definitely want to work with our recommendations," he said.

But what that means is unclear. Deirdre Parker, a spokesperson for MTA operator New York City Transit Authority, stressed that Access-A-Ride cannot be used in the way the report suggests.

"It's not the solution, because that's not the way we operate," said Parker. "We are not a shuttle service. Registered customers can call and arrange for a ride the way they always do."

The committee report suggested that the MTA increase Access-A-Ride service on Election Day and allow riders to book their trips at least two weeks in advance so that the service could make proper accommodations for voters. Normally, riders book trips one or two days in advance.

The Independent Budgeting Office recently released a report about the rising cost of running Access-A-Ride. While the report did not completely speak to the liabilities of the paratransit program, Doug Turetsky, spokesperson for the office, said, "It is not clear whether Access-A-Ride has the capacity given the surge in usage" over the past few years.

Michael Harris, campaign coordinator for the Disabled Riders Coalition, said that given the transportation challenges, the new machines are not enough of a draw. "Most people with disabilities have lives and are not going to travel an hour just to vote," he explained.

For a system plagued with complaints about slow service, long waits and long ride times, disabled riders are more likely to choose machines that are closer to their homes, even if those do not provide means for them to vote without assistance.

Polling places which provide new Ballot Marking Devices allow voters to cast votes on their own, but these must then be counted out by poll workers at day's end rather than recorded on machine, eliminating the secrecy of the ballots.

But Lawrence Long-Carter, network coordinator for the Disabilities Network of New York City, said that he is optimistic about the recent developments in accessible voting. "Unfortunately the biggest problem about this has been creating a dialogue," Long-Carter said. "We have been stonewalled time and time again as a community." The Board of Elections says it spent approximately half a million dollars on outreach before the primaries. Because the board does not have a dedicated list for disabled voters, a mailing went out to each and every registered voter in the five boroughs.

A spokesperson for the mayor's office, Evelyn Erskine, said that the office plans to conduct its own outreach and education as well.

"We want everyone to know how important it is to go out and vote, versus staying home and thinking, 'Well, I am disabled and just can't get there,'" Erskine said.

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