Accessible voting spaces and responding to voter needs in Florida
— Karen Bachmann, friend of CCD and poll worker in Florida
November 2018
Poll workers are passionate about enabling voters to cast their ballots fully and successfully. I’ve witnessed this as a voter, but this is the first year I experienced it as a poll worker myself. Here’s one story from the 2016 general election in Florida that illustrates this.
My assigned polling place is a relatively small precinct located in a retirement community that serves people over age 55. This community serves people with a range of needs from living independently through full-time assisted living. While there are other communities in the precinct, most of the people coming in on Election Day are elderly residents. Many rely on walkers (the kind with fold out seats), canes, and scooters to get around. Some of these voters are very frail. Standing up to fill out a ballot would be challenging in a normal election. For this election, our county in Florida had a four-page ballot that was mostly incomprehensible amendments. Even voters who had done all the homework would not have a fast trip to the polls. To meet the needs of all our voters and enable them to vote without duress, we needed to allow enough seated voting options.
The standard poll equipment provided for a precinct our size includes only one adjusted height privacy booth to allow for seated, hand marking of a ballot as well as the Automark [ballot marking system for people with disabilities]. Our polling place is set up in the community room, which has plenty of tables and chairs available following Monday night Bingo (FL polls set up the night before, so the location and timing means a late setup time prior to the 6:00 AM start, but you don’t mess with Bingo). What we do (and have done for many elections prior, guided by one election team member who has been serving at that site for many elections) to make sure we have additional seated options is take two privacy screens from standing privacy booths and place them on a table that seats 8–10 with chairs instead of the standing booths. One such table was sufficient for the primary. In the general election, however, we actually filled all privacy booths, standing and seated, completely several times.
We had left a couple tables with chairs set up towards the back of the room to allow voters to wait as comfortably as possible. However, we saw people starting to vote at those tables. We realized we needed other options to ensure voter privacy. We used the privacy booth boxes as shown in the pictures to create at least some improved privacy. They are 2 narrow boxes set up at right angles. Simple upcycling of materials on hand!
As we put them up, three elderly voters were all completing their ballots sitting equally spaced around the table with the T configuration. When we put the boxes down, they said they weren’t too worried about privacy . We, however, wanted to protect their voting privacy as well as the privacy of many other voters who sat at those tables throughout the day.
These and the other seated options were in constant use, not only by people who might be uncomfortable standing. Not surprising to me was the number of younger people who came in to fill out that hefty four-page ballot who also sat down. These tables were definitely popular with parents with their children in tow, as it gave the kids a place to amuse themselves out the the main path traffic paths while their parents voted. As with so many accessible options, it served the greater population.
This was just one example I saw of how poll workers are committed to making sure everyone can vote. Some of my colleagues have been volunteering for decades, and told stories of helping other voters over the years. I felt this particular accommodation was creative and appropriate for the context. It was clearly appreciated by the people at this precinct.
