Two sisters work so disabled can vote

The sisters have worked with advocacy groups and election officials.
AKRON (AP) -- Years ago, Mindy McLawhon's wheelchair couldn't fit into a church where she was supposed to vote. Insistent on casting her ballot, McLawhon and her sister had poll workers carry the voting booth out to the curb so McLawhon could choose her candidates.
"I thought, how many people were told, 'I'm sorry, you can't vote,' and they just go home and don't vote?" said Ellen Shankle, McLawhon's sister.
"It's not fair," said McLawhon, who has multiple sclerosis.
The Stark County sisters have spent the years since working with advocacy groups and Ohio elections officials to make sure poll workers follow state and federal laws requiring accessibility for handicapped people.
Hired to help
The Stark County Board of Elections hired McLawhon and Shankle last year to help test accessibility at polling places. The sisters went to locations throughout the county with election workers to find potential obstacles for the disabled.
"If they could not get into the location, then we knew it was not handicap-accessible," said Jeanette Mullane, deputy director of the board.
After a few modifications were made and several sites relocated, all 212 locations in the county are accessible, Mullane said.
Making sure all eligible voters are able to cast ballots could be crucial in a close election that could be decided by a small margin of votes. And it could be especially important in Stark County, a bellwether county that's voted for the winning presidential candidate in every election since 1960 except for Jimmy Carter in 1976.
In 2000
In the 2000 presidential campaign, President Bush beat Al Gore in Stark County by less than 2 percentage points. The state followed the county's lead and went for Bush. This year, both sides have said Ohio and its 20 electoral votes are must-win.
"We expect the board of elections to find locations for voting that are accessible to everyone," said James Lee, spokesman for Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell. He said the state requires all boards of elections to fill out a survey each year verifying their polling sites are accessible.
Elections officials in some of the state's largest counties say they're ready.
In Cleveland's Cuyahoga County, all but 11 of its 1,436 precincts are handicap-accessible, said Jim Rieke, a poll inspector with the county's board of elections.
The 11 sites that aren't have received exemptions from the state, which means they have permission to carry ballots out to people who may not be able to get to the booth.
"Nobody is disenfranchised," Rieke said Friday.
All of Summit County's 206 polling locations also are handicap-accessible, said John Schmidt, board of elections deputy director.
"It's very important," he said. "People should have the opportunity to go to their voting places and cast their ballot. We do everything we can to help them do that."
Common complaints
Doors that are too narrow for wheelchairs and polling booths that can only be reached by climbing stairs are some common complaints from disabled voters, said Sue Willis, director of AXIS Center for Public Awareness of People with Disabilities. The Columbus-based group receives federal funding to advocate for the disabled.
"They are so disenfranchised by how difficult people have made it, they just give up voting," Willis said.
After their problem three years ago, Shankle wrote letters and called local and state officials. She attended statewide conferences on the topic and agreed to serve as a board member of the Disabilities Network of Ohio, an advocacy group based in Dayton.
She also got involved with efforts to help disabled residents register to vote.
"The disabled fight for their very existence too often," Shankle said. "To have to fight for their right to vote, to me, is appalling."