In November of 2014, two voters with disabilities living in Bureau County, IL had undue difficulty casting their votes. Each person wanted to use an electronic voting machine. At one polling location, the election judges could not find the card needed to activate the machine. At the other, the machine had been placed in a location that offered no privacy. The staff at each of their polling locations lacked both experience and knowledge to adequately help them.
The problems each person faced are a violation of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), which requires that polling locations are accessible to individuals with disabilities in a manner that provides the same opportunity for access and participation (including privacy) as for other voters. HAVA also requires each state have an administrative complaint process for voters with complaints of violations of HAVA.
Working with Equip for Equality, the two voters filed complaints alleging violations of Title III of HAVA in January 2015. After an initial review by the Illinois State Board of Elections and the appointment of a hearing officer, settlement negotiations commenced.
In May 2015, a settlement agreement signed by both parties was submitted to a hearing examiner. The hearing examiner recommended that the State Board of Elections approve the settlement agreement as resolving the issues and making a recurrence unlikely. The State Board of Elections approved the settlement agreement on May 18, 2015.
The settlement represented a big advancement for protecting the rights of disabled voters in Bureau County, containing provisions to help ensure the accessibility of future elections there. The Bureau County clerk committed to:
- designate time at each federal election judge training for the Illinois Valley Center for Independent Living to provide disability training;
- create diagrams showing the proper placement of the electronic voting machine in each polling place to afford accessibility and privacy;
- designate one election judge in each polling place to respond to issues relating to accessibility;
- provide information to assist in the recruitment of people with disabilities as election judges;
- when requested meet with the Illinois Valley CIL following any federal election to discuss any issues that arise.
While Equip for Equality has been educating voters about the availability of this administrative process since 2004, this is the first case in which we have filed a complaint. We are glad the two voters involved came forward in this case, and believe that this settlement strengthens voting rights for people with disabilities not only in Bureau County, but across the state.
