TRENTON, NJ -- Fourteen years after federal laws were enacted requiring accessibility at polling places, election officials are making some progress in ensuring that all voters have access to the polls, although significant challenges remain, according to a new Public Advocate report.

As people head to the polls to choose school board members, the report documents a steady decline in the number of sites failing first-time inspections and the number of waivers issued to county election boards, allowing them to operate inaccessible sites.

Still, statistics from a Division of Civil Rights study of 1,120 polling places conducted between May 2004 and November 2006 showed that more than 40 percent failed to meet legal accessibility standards for people with disabilities at least once, even though county election officials had not sought waivers to operate these noncompliant sites.

And, sites that had failed previous inspections continued to have high failure rates, ranging from 35 to 81 percent. This suggests that polling places with serious accessibility problems may continue to impede universal access to polls this election cycle. Lack of ramps, signs and parking are common barriers that make it impossible for people with disabilities to vote at the polls.

“The right to vote is fundamental,” said Public Advocate Ronald Chen. “Every citizen must have access to polling places, including voters with disabilities. That means that every single polling place in the state must be accessible.”

The Public Advocate and Attorney General worked jointly over the past several months with the county election boards to address accessibility issues. Several counties recently announced they will be 100 percent accessible for the upcoming elections, such as Essex and Hudson counties. 

“These counties’ compliance efforts show that with appropriate diligence, full compliance with the accessibility laws can be achieved,” Mr. Chen added.

The Public Advocate’s study also found that some county election boards failed to implement the recommendations of committees charged by statute with ensuring accessible polling places.

In 2006, the newly restored county Voting Accessibility Advisory Committees (VAACs) cited many violations at polling places, but in some instances, county election officials later represented those same places as accessible, without providing any proof that problems had been fixed, according to the report.

“Each county must fully staff and train these special committees to conduct thorough inspections, and county election officials must be required to respond to their recommendations,” Chen said. “These committees should also be responsible for following up to ensure problems have been fixed when the polls open on Election Day. Right now, there is no guarantee of follow-up.”

The release of the report continues the Public Advocate’s Voters’ Rights Campaign, aimed at securing the rights of all eligible New Jersey citizens to register to vote and have unfettered access to the polls.

Other projects planned throughout the year, leading up to the November elections, when all members of the state Legislature are up for re-election, include ensuring compliance with laws promoting voter registration, advocating for voting machines that are certified and accessible and monitoring Election Day activities.

The report released today found that part of the accessibility problem is the state has issued 366 waivers since 2003, allowing county election boards to operate polling sites that have barriers. The number of waivers issued, however, has steadily dropped, going from 94 in 2003 to 51 in 2006.

“While county election officials have made some important progress, this report shows that 14 years after federal law required all polling places to be accessible, some sites around the state still had barriers that blocked access to the polls as recently as November 2006,” Chen added. “That is simply unacceptable.”

Chen added that he is working with the Attorney General and county election officials to guarantee access for all for the April Board of Education elections, May municipal elections, June primaries and November general election.

The report’s key recommendations include:

• County boards of election must no longer allow polling places that are inaccessible to voters with disabilities, which in the view of the Public Advocate is impermissible under federal law.

• The Attorney General should cease issuing waivers for polling place accessibility and inform counties they must bring sites up to standards.

• Each county should fully staff and train a Voting Accessibility Advisory Committee to conduct both thorough inspections of polling place accessibility and follow-up inspections for each election. County officials must stop certifying sites the committees deem inaccessible.

• School election officials, under the oversight of the Department of Education, should not hold school elections at uninspected sites used only in those elections, but instead should use polling sites that have been previously designated as official polling sites, as required by law. The New Jersey Division of Elections should monitor compliance with these practices.

Read the full report