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Some Clark County polling sites not compliant with disability laws

Dayton Daily News (OH) - 7/22/2014

July 22--The Clark County Board of Elections may move multiple poll locations after the Ohio Secretary of State's Office discovered that several failed to meet accessibility requirements for people with disabilities.

A compliance spot check of eight of the counties 59 polling locations found that all of those inspected had multiple violations of the American's with Disabilities Act, the Help America Vote Act and the Ohio Revised Code.

The board has already moved three poll locations, as a result of the notice from the state obtained by the Springfield News-Sun.

Officials will likely move more as it can be to expensive correct some of the problems at the sites and funding is in short supply. Moving a poll location has minimal costs but the board is still reviewing possible construction costs for correcting problems at sites.

In a letter sent to the Ohio Secretary of State's Office, elections officials said they would relocate seven sites and possibly all eight locations mentioned in the spot check.

Clark County Board of Elections Director Matthew Tlachac said officials are reviewing all of the county's polling locations and will submit their findings to the local elections board in August. The board will then determine whether additional changes need to be made, he said.

"If a location is not compliant we need to make it compliant or we need to find a location that is compliant," Tlachac said. "For the most part our locations are compliant, it's just that the standards are fairly stringent. Every single location no matter where it might be has slight issues."

But overall the county is in good standing with its polling locations or has slight issues that are resolvable, he said, such as making sure poll workers know to keep a door propped open so people can get in because it's too heavy.

Most of the problems found at the poll locations were with too steep of a slope leading to the entrance, along sidewalks or the parking lot; lack of parking signs for disabled motorists; issues with doors that don't take at least three seconds to close; and objects, such as a coat rack, that aren't detectable with a cane.

The accessible route or slope to an entrance that's used to access a polling location has to be 5 percent or less, Tlachac said.

But at most locations there's portions of that route that go above that for drainage purposes, he said.

"Those are all factors that we have to take into consideration. Some locations have issues with that and we need to somehow resolve it," Tlachac said.

Matthew McClellan, a spokesman for the Ohio Secretary of State's Office, said the state conducts site visits in all counties.

The Secretary of State received more than $243,000 in Help America Vote Act funding for 85 projects in Ohio to improve access to the polls. Those dollars are administered through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, McClellan said.

There's "not much" of that money available because the federal government hasn't reissued additional funding for projects, he said.

The Clark County Board of Elections prefers to not change polling locations to prevent confusion, Chairwoman Lynda Smith said.

But she also said officials must make sure that all polling locations meet ADA requirements and ensure accessibility at the polls for all voters.

"We want to make sure that they have easy access and make it a good experience for them," Smith said.

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(c)2014 the Dayton Daily News (Dayton, Ohio)

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