“I want to vote,” the elderly woman said as she leaned on her walker, “but I can’t always do it. I can’t get down the stairs to my polling place.”

“Isn’t there a ramp?” I asked. “It’s federal law that polling places have to be accessible for people with handicaps.”

“There’s an elevator,” she said, “but it doesn’t always work. When it’s not working, I can’t vote.”

“What’s the name of your polling place?”

“Laketon Heights in Penn Hills,” she responded.

Who in Allegheny County is responsible for checking that the elevator this woman depends on to vote will be working on election day? How many people in Allegheny County and across Pennsylvania have been denied their right to vote because their polling place was not in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)?

The ADA requires state and local governments to ensure that people with disabilities have a full and equal opportunity to vote. That means that locations selected to be polling places must accommodate voters with disabilities. Elevators must be functional; ramps can’t be too steep; pathways must be accessible; and parking lots need to have a surface that does not restrict the motion for anyone using a walker, crutches, etc., and does not increase the risk of them falling.

Juliet Zavon
Squirrel Hill

First Published: October 22, 2018, 4:00 a.m.