HAVA mandates result in changes to polling places In 2006, the citizens of Meade County, as well as all Kentuckians, face an unprecedented number of races on the election ballot – a total of 4,231 races to be exact. While the sheer number of races poses many challenges, there are several mandates from the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) that have deadlines this year. For 2006, most the HAVA mandates center on insuring accessibility for all voters in the election process. These mandates strengthen the existing polling place accessibility requirements set forth in the Americans with Disabilities Act and existing Kentucky law. For Meade County, this will mean new voting machines and more accessible polling locations. To improve polling place accessibility, the State Board of Elections partnered with the Kentucky Disabilities Coalition, as well as your Meade County Clerk, and surveyed the accessibility of all polling locations in Meade County. As a result of these surveys, it has been determined that many changes would have to be made to polling locations to make them fully accessible. Many of the polling locations in Meade County would require extensive modifications to meet the accessibility requirements. The simplest solution was to move the polling locations to sites that are already accessible, like our public schools. Public schools are mandated by federal law to meet all the requirements now being implemented by the HAVA. Fortunately, the Kentucky General Assembly passed legislation this past spring which closed public schools on primary election day, freeing up our schools, which are already accessible, to be used as polling locations. State law already required schools to be closed for the general election day. At the February meeting of the Meade County Board of Elections, a motion to move all polling places to the public schools throughout the county passed with a unanimous, bipartisan vote. Specific locations will be communicated in the near future. While some of the changes may not prove to be initially popular with a few citizens simply because of their reluctance to change, the end result will allow for a greater number of citizens in Meade County to have unfettered access to the election process. The work that Meade County has completed thus far demonstrates the power of partnerships and the positive outlook for Meade County, as well as all of Kentucky.
|
