http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-livote0506,0,2758456.story?coll=ny-linews-headlines
By James T. Madore
Newsday Staff Writer
May 6, 2006
Some disabled voters are alarmed by a new state plan they
say calls for too few polling places where the disabled can vote without having
to ask for help in this year's elections.
The state wants to outfit only one balloting site in each of
New York City's five boroughs with handicapped-accessible voting machines and
have less than two dozen of them on Long Island. So, people wanting to vote independently would have to travel far
from their homes, and in the city, government officials don't intend to provide
transportation.
A federal judge in Albany is expected Tuesday to consider
the plan as part of settling a lawsuit brought against New York State for
failure to comply with a 2002 federal election-reform law. That statute
required states to provide accessible voting for the disabled at all polling
places by last January.
Some levers on New York's old voting machines are beyond the
reach of people in wheelchairs and the blind cannot read the ballot. They must
rely on poll workers, but that means votes no longer are secret.
While dissatisfied with the state's attempt to accommodate
some handicapped voters, Justice Department officials hope the judge will
ratify the plan, calling it "better than nothing."
Disabled voters are incensed.
"I'm absolutely disgusted," said Pratik Patel, a
CUNY administrator who is blind. "I almost feel [like] I am a second-class
citizen in this country."
Patel and others predicted the polling stations equipped
with handicapped-accessible voting machines would be overwhelmed, and voters
would be turned away. "This isn't going to be workable," said Patel,
28, of Fresh Meadows, Queens.
New York City plans to have 20 to 30 machines split between
the five special polling places - all located at Board of Elections offices.
Roughly 494,000 city residents are disabled and eligible to
vote, according to Justice Department estimates. Voter turnout among the
disabled is likely not to be that high, said Lee Daghlian of the state Board of
Elections.
With just 18 weeks until the Sept. 12 primary, limiting the
handicapped-accessible sites ensures poll workers know how to use the new
voting machines and all ballots will be available, said city elections
spokeswoman Valerie Vazquez.
Nassau County will have 12 machines, one in each state
Assembly district and Long Beach. Suffolk will have 11, two in Brookhaven and
one each in the other towns. State records show both counties will provide
transportation to the polls.
However, Nassau Democratic elections commissioner William
Biamonte acknowledged the arrangement isn't satisfactory. He blamed federal
officials for forcing the stopgap measure. "We should be working on
2007," he said, referring to the new deadline for full compliance with election
rules. "This isn't helping the physically challenged community. We are
accomplishing very little."
Copyright (c) 2006, Newsday, Inc.
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