U.S., Phila. OK plan for disabled access to polls

The Justice Department has settled with Philadelphia on a plan to improve access to polling places for the disabled, the agency announced yesterday.

"This agreement will help ensure that persons with mobility disabilities have the opportunity to exercise their right and cast their ballot in person, at the polls, near their homes and alongside their neighbors," said Loretta King, acting assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division.

The Justice Department said the settlement was the first between the agency and a city that focused solely on polling-place accessibility.

Currently, disabled Philadelphians who cannot use their polling place can vote only by absentee ballot.

The Justice Department has begun a review of more than half of the city's 1,200 polling places and will make recommendations where necessary.

The city is responsible for paying an independent expert to assess the remaining polling places. The cost of the expert is capped at $500,000, with $100,000 coming from the state and the rest from the federal government through the Help America Vote Act, City Solicitor Shelley Smith said.

A separate lawsuit filed on behalf of disabled voters against the city has been resolved in connection with the Justice Department settlement.

In 2003, the city settled a civil-rights lawsuit filed by the National Organization on Disability and nine disabled voters to improve polling-place access.

Smith said improvements had been made, but "there were still many inaccessible polling places," and the city was forced back to court.

The Justice Department got involved in 2006, Smith said.

The settlement, she said, "reflects the city's commitment to make voting accessible to all voters."