Voting precincts to be made accessible

The county is also looking at voting systems for the polling sites.
By VIRGINIA ROSS
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Lawrence County officials are beginning the process of making voting precincts throughout the county accessible to people with disabilities.
They have not yet decided which voting system to purchase for those polling sites, however.
County commissioners recently hired Hollister Bundy of Inclusion Solutions to make the polling sites accessible. The Chicago-based contractor is to be paid up to $103,750 to build the necessary ramps, handrails and other features required to make the sites accessible to individuals with disabilities.
Consolidation
Up to $10,375 of that money, however, could be refunded to the county if officials follow through with their option to consolidate several precincts.
"Consolidating our polling sites could cut the cost of this process tremendously," said Commissioner Ed Fosnaught. "I think it's something that needs to be done and now is the time to do it."
The county has 106 voting precincts, most of which are not accessible to people who have disabilities. County elections officials already have started working on consolidating several of those voting precincts, and they said they are looking at combining some of the smaller, less-used sites.
Essentially, in order for the county to secure its receipt of nearly $1 million in federal aid, commissioners had to agree to comply with the Help America Vote Act, a measure that provides individuals with disabilities an opportunity to vote at the polls.
Earlier this month, commissioners adopted a resolution that obligates the county to comply with the act by making polling sites accessible and having a voting system in place that can be used by people with disabilities.
New voting system
The county has until the end of February to identify an appropriate voting system and be in the process of buying that system, or be working toward that goal.
The new system must be state-approved. But the county has not decided what voting system to use. An elections advisory committee, set up by the county elections department earlier this year, has been studying the matter for several months.
The county has used an optical scan system for more than 20 years.
Marlene Gabriel, county elections director, said the county has spent the last year looking at new machines and voting methods and has considered buying a touch-screen voting system.
But county officials are concerned that such a system might not provide them with the paper trail the current system provides.
The county is looking to invite various vendors to a public meeting early next year to allow officials and residents to have a closer look at several voting systems.