Early voting is still relatively new in New York. While some applaud the reform, others are disappointed in how polling sites have treated people with disabilities. 

Two organizations, the Brennan Center and Disability Rights New York, surveyed over half of the state’s early voting sites during the 2022 election cycle and found that 94% of polling sites of the sites surveyed were not fully accessible. 

Their findings may be read in a report titled How to Improve Early Voting Accessibility in New York State.

“This is certainly something that we’ve heard from voters with disabilities that we work with regularly. That they consistently face obstacles to casting their ballots conveniently, privately and independently,” said Derek Tisler, counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice’s Democracy Program. 

According to the report, in 42% of the early voting polling places surveyed, ballot marking devices weren’t set up to ensure privacy and 58% of early voting polling places didn’t have adequate signage prohibiting parking in “access aisles” that provide room for wheelchair users to get in and out of vehicles in parking spots.

“[Early voting] was passed just four years ago and I think it’s rightly celebrated as something that has expanded access and convenience to New York voters, but we wanted to see if that was true for all New York voters,” Tisler told Capital Tonight. “What we found is that voters with disabilities face consistent obstacles that many other voters don’t need to face.”

The New York State Board of Elections is aware of the report and tells Capital Tonight that it’s already working on fixing the issues.

“It should be noted that all alleged problems reported by the organizations can be easily remedied with temporary measures such as additional training for poll workers and temporary walkways, signage, and door stops," Jennifer Wilson, deputy public information officer for the state BOE, said in a statement.