Last week, national media focused in on Randolph County, Georgia, where it was discovered that the Board of Elections planned to close seven of nine polling places due to alleged ADA violations. Outrage spread throughout the country as this community, whose voters are primarily people of color, faced the prospect of being forced to travel up to 15 miles without public transportation to a new polling place.
Alerted to this news, NCIL members and other Georgia disability advocacy groups jumped into action. You joined with other advocates to tell Randolph County in no uncertain terms that exploiting the ADA to close polling places and disenfranchise voters of color is unacceptable. If a polling place is inaccessible, the legal obligation under the ADA is to make the polling place accessible, not to shut it down.
That’s the magic of NCIL’s grassroots network. We can mobilize advocates like you from targeted areas to address rights violations like those in Randolph County.
You won. Now, NCIL needs your help to continue to protect the right to vote. Here’s how:
- Alert us if election officials are using the ADA to close polling places in your area.
- Direct your local polling place to contact one of the regional ADA centers if they have questions about ADA compliance.
- Donate to NCIL’s Voting Rights & Civic Engagement Fund so that we can continue advocating for polling place accessibility
