HAYS COUNTY, Texas — Following an investigation into 2023 polling places, the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) and Hays County have reached a settlement agreement to ensure the county's voting locations are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
The DOJ said its investigators surveyed the 14 polling places Hays County used during last year's election and found they had barriers that rendered them inaccessible to voters with disabilities. Those barriers included excessively sloped ramps, including some without handrails and edge protection; a lack of van-accessible parking; numerous gaps and level changes along exterior routes; protruding objects; and excessively sloped portions of parking spaces, access aisles and exterior routes to the entrance.
The investigators also documented a lack of knee and toe clearance in the accessible voting machines and at other voting stations at some locations.
Bryce Whalen of Austin has a disability after getting hit by a drunk driver, losing a lot of nerve ability. He said voting in Central Texas is not always easy for people with disabilities.
"There are a lot of places that were built before the, you know, handicap codes. And they don't have the wheelchair ramps, and they don't have the rails, and they don't have the bumps on the sidewalk to make sure that you don't slip and slide as you're going down, like in the rain," Whalen said. "When you are really struggling, you don't need any more hard."
"My vote is supposed to count, and it shouldn't be no harder for me to cast my vote than it is for an able-bodied person," Whalen added.
Under the settlement agreement, the DOJ said Hays County will work with an accessibility expert and use an evaluation form for each current and prospective polling place, based on ADA architectural standards. The agreement requires Hays County to make polling places accessible through a variety of measures and also requires the county to train its poll workers and other election staff on ADA requirements and how to use temporary measures to make sure every polling place is accessible during elections.
Linda Calvert is the president of the Hays County League of Women Voters.
"It's a challenge and just extremely important that we're able to provide easy voting. And Texas is not known for that," Calvert said. "As I drive down [Interstate] 35, I'm just real aware of how much growth we've had, and so finding the right places and finding enough places and you want places that people can get to easily."
Hays County shared the following statement in response to the settlement:
"Hays County goes to great lengths to ensure that its polling places are accessible to voters with disabilities. Hays County, like other Texas counties, is proud to partner with the Department of Justice to ensure that the County's polling places are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Among other things, Hays County is expanding training for poll workers, consulting with a third-party expert to proactively evaluate the accessibility of each of the County's polling places and implementing additional measures to increase accessibility in polling places, as well as remaining focused on the County’s availability of curbside voting."
To learn more about the ADA, you can visit www.ADA.gov or call the DOJ's toll-free information line at 800-514-0301 or 800-514-0383. To learn more about filing a complaint, click here.