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While most Michigan voters are able to make a simple plan for voting — Where is the polling place, and when am I going? — voters with disabilities often have a lot more issues to contend with.
Users of wheelchairs or other mobility aids need to know: Will the polling place have accessible parking, a clear pathway in, and an entrance anyone can use? For those with other disabilities: Will the voting machine designed to be accessible for all be set up and available, as the law requires? Will there be a booth where people can cast their ballots privately, even if they can’t stand?
Across Metro Detroit in 2022, the answer more than 80% of the time was no, according to researchers from Detroit Disability Power. For people who depend on such accommodations — more than 25% of U.S. adults have some form of disability, according to the CDC — these gaps can make exercising the basic right to vote seem unfairly burdensome, or even impossible.
“I would argue that the majority of non-disabled voters, you go and you vote, you get your sticker and you think nothing more about it,” said Dessa Cosma, founder and executive director of DDP, which advocates for better access to voting and other civic processes. “But that’s the whole story of being disabled. When the world wasn’t designed for you, you’re constantly having to consciously navigate it.”
Just last week, Michigan’s Department of State acknowledged that some people who use voter assist terminals to cast ballots won’t have the same options for straight-ticket voting as other voters do. The problem involves VATs made by Dominion Voting Systems, which are used in 65 of Michigan’s 83 counties to allow voters to mark a ballot using a computer with a touch screen and other assistive controls.
In general elections, Michigan voters who use the normal paper ballots have the option to select a “straight party” option that automatically selects all candidates from the same party, and they can override that selection for individual races where they wish to cross party lines. But on the Dominion VATs, voters who split their tickets like that will get an error message, forcing them to deselect the straight party option and instead vote in each race individually.
It’s not possible to fix the program at this point, the Department of State said Friday. Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said Monday that the problem affected Dominion machines nationwide, but only the VATs — not any other machine.
“I think all of us who use Dominion machines were unhappy to learn about this during the testing period and as early voting began,” Benson said during a news conference. “We’re working with Dominion to seek accountability on that front, and we’re also working with our clerks to ensure voters are aware of this programming issue.”
Michael Siegrist, Canton Township clerk, said the state shared a guide from Dominion that walks voters through how to avoid the problem and how to address it if it comes up.
Study finds gaps in voting accessibility in Metro Detroit
A national study from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission found that 40% of Americans with disabilities voted in 2020, but nearly 11% of those voters reported some type of difficulty. That number rose to 14% in 2022, with problems frequently popping up during in-person voting because of a lack of training or a lack of physical accessibility.
Since 2022, voters have been able to vote absentee from home more easily, and some can even request to receive an accessible ballot — which is sent electronically and can be completed on a computer, printed, and then returned like a standard ballot — but it can feel like an unequal option for those who want to vote in person or decide to cast a ballot at the last minute at a polling place.
In some cases, making polling places accessible can be simple. Detroit Disability Power, along with the Carter Center, looked at more than 260 Metro Detroit polling places across 15 jurisdictions on multiple days during the 2022 election.
Volunteer researchers with the organizations found full accessibility in only 16% of polling places surveyed across Wayne County and certain cities in Oakland and Macomb counties.
Many of those that were not fully accessible failed on only one measure. If that were addressed, the number could quickly jump to 42%. The most common problem was the lack of accessible entrances. In some cases, the accessible entrance was different from the main entrance but not clearly marked, while in others, ramps were blocked or not available at all.
Other shortcomings they found could be corrected immediately to help voters for this election, they said. Researchers found that 40% of polling places did not have a fully accessible voting booth, and 44% lacked an accessible voter assist terminal. Most sites had a VAT, but “many were not in working order,” the report notes.
“Several VATs displayed error codes, 26 (12%) did not have headphones or the controller plugged in, and one had run out of printing paper, making it unusable,” DDP’s report found. “In many instances, the unplugged VATs were quickly corrected once pointed out by observers. Of the polling sites with VATs, 38 (more than 17%) had them placed in a way that did not ensure secrecy.”
Cosma said that it’s a common myth that no one ever uses the VATs, so no one needs to bother turning it on. Indulging such myths keeps people with disabilities “out of sight and out of mind,” Cosma said.
She said she recognizes that Election Day is a busy one for poll workers, but said that not giving voters with disabilities the same consideration as others is a form of discrimination.
“It’s not an excuse,” she said. “It’s totally unacceptable. But I think that’s what happens is that things fall through the cracks because they’re not prioritized enough in training.”
Some of the group’s recommendations to local election officials include addressing that directly, Cosma said, by ensuring there is an accessibility point person who prioritizes the needs of voters with disabilities. Other recommendations included improving training to better emphasize the needs of voters with disabilities and create a statewide reporting system on the accessibility of polling locations.
Cosma said the group shared its findings with local governments. While some refused to meet or disputed the findings, others were receptive to making changes or took the opportunity to improve on their own accessibility.
Siegrist said many clerks are just trying to hit the bare minimum with accessibility, which can be difficult in places that have to rely on churches and other non-public buildings as polling places. In Canton, officials hadn’t consulted with voters with disabilities before, so the study presented an opportunity to improve signage and communications for all voters.
Michigan has a hotline to report voting challenges
There are a number of federal and state laws that require polling places to be accessible, including the Voting Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Help America Vote Act. Those laws together require that voters are able to cast ballots privately and independently — or, if that is not possible, ensure that other accommodations can be made.
Most of DDP’s suggestions simply aim to ensure those laws are better followed, but others, like a system to report on how accessible polling places are, would help Michigan lead the way on accessibility.
DDP will be reviewing the same locations on Nov. 5, Cosma said, to see if there has been an improvement.
But voters with disabilities — or anyone who notices a problem — don’t have to wait until after the election to flag problems and call for improvements. Dave Foster, Michigan’s ombudsperson for accessible elections, is tasked specifically with making sure voters are able to cast their ballots regardless of any disabilities they may have.
He works closely with local election officials to make sure polling places are accessible to all. The state takes accessibility seriously, he said, and a significant part of his work is making sure voters who need accommodations don’t feel singled out or like they have to disclose their disabilities just to be able to vote.
“The biggest part is being sensitive to people’s needs,” he said. “If they ask for help, we should be able to provide them with whatever help we can to make sure that this process goes smoothly.”
Part of his job is technical — ensuring polling places are still physically accessible despite harsh Michigan winters that can wreck pavements, considering what the next generation of VATs may look like — but a big part is solving problems as they come up.
The state has implemented a hotline for voters to report problems, such as issues with VATs, or a clerk who is fulfilling their responsibilities. It’s a way to reach out to someone “directly at the top,” Foster said, to seek an immediate resolution.
The line isn’t just for voters with disabilities. Anyone who sees a potential accessibility concern can report it, Foster said.
He can be reached at MDOS-ADAVoting@Michigan.gov or 517-335-2730.
“If you walk into your polling place and you don’t see the Voter Assist Terminal set up, we need to know that,” he said. “The only way we know is if someone says something.”
Hayley Harding is a reporter for Votebeat based in Michigan. Contact Hayley at hharding@votebeat.org.
