WASHINGTON (AP) — Advocates for the disabled say access for voters with disabilities remains a challenge at polling places throughout the United States. Since 2016, the Department of Justice has entered into more than three dozen settlements or agreements to force better access in cities and counties under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Many of those places are holding elections this year. The department’s targets are almost certainly an undercount of the number of places with poor access, according to disability rights activists who try to track ADA compliance and complaints from voters. In Wisconsin, disability rights activists scored a victory when they filed a legal challenge in federal court after the state Supreme Court, with a conservative majority, ruled that only the voter can return an absentee ballot. The federal court said that ran afoul of the Voting Rights Act. Nevertheless, voters with disabilities have been complaining that the federal law is being ignored in the run-up to Wisconsin’s high-stakes election Tuesday, when control of the state’s high court could flip. They say local election officials throughout Wisconsin have been giving incorrect information on websites, in mailings and at polling places saying voters can’t receive help or have someone else return their ballot — without making the distinction that such assistance is allowed for voters with disabilities.
