NEWARK – The United States has reached agreements with the election boards for Ocean and Union counties to ensure people with disabilities can physically access polling locations, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced today.
From 2015 to 2019, the federal government surveyed more than 100 polling places through four elections in Ocean and Union counties.
The surveys found many of those polling places had physical barriers to access, potentially impeding voters who have mobility or vision impairments.
The Boards of Elections in those two counties expressed their commitment to making all polling locations accessible to voters with disabilities, as required under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Under the memoranda of agreement, the county election boards will employ temporary measures, such as portable ramps and signage, where appropriate to make polling places accessible.
They will also train their poll workers on the requirements of the ADA and how to use temporary measures to ensure each polling place is accessible.
The county boards will also survey polling locations for accessibility and maintain the accessibility of each polling place it uses on Election Day.
When selecting future polling places, the agreements also require the county boards to choose locations that will be accessible during elections.
The Department of Justice will monitor the county boards’ compliance with the agreements and provide the counties with technical assistance.
The Ocean and Union county election boards fully cooperated with the U.S. Attorney’s Office to voluntarily reach the agreements and agreed to take remedial steps soon after learning of these findings to improve physical accessibility at polling places.
“The right of every voter with a disability to vote in person at his or her local polling place is an integral part of our democratic system of government that must be not be diminished or restricted by barriers to access,” U.S. Attorney Carpenito said.
“These agreements protect this fundamental right by ensuring voting access to polling places to individuals with mobility disabilities.”
These agreements are part of the Justice Department’s ADA Voting Initiative, which focuses on protecting the voting rights of individuals with disabilities. A hallmark of the ADA Voting Initiative is its collaboration with jurisdictions to increase accessibility at polling places. The Department of Justice has surveyed more than 1,600 polling places and increased polling place accessibility in more than 35 jurisdictions.
The United States is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael E. Campion, Chief of the U.S. Attorney’s Civil Rights Unit, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly Horan Florio, of the U.S. Attorney’s Civil Rights Unit, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Elizabeth A. Pascal and Kristin Vassallo, Deputy Chiefs of the U.S. Attorney’s Civil Division.
Individuals who believe they may have been victims of discrimination may file a complaint with the U.S Attorney’s Office at: http://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/civil-rights-enforcement/complaint or call the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Civil Rights Complaint Hotline at (855) 281-3339. Additional information about the ADA can be found at www.ada.gov, or by calling the Department of Justice’s toll-free information line at (800) 514-0301 and (800) 514-0383 (TDD).