Voter collapses twice while waiting; advocates seek more help for elderly, disabled

John Doll cast his ballot from his car on Friday outside the Summit County Board of Elections.

But exercising his constitutional right did not come without its challenges for the 67-year-old man.

Doll joined several hundred others at the elections office Tuesday morning on the first day of early voting in Ohio. After waiting in line for about two hours, Doll, who is diabetic and has Parkinson’s disease, collapsed. He then sat outside of the voting center until his condition stabilized enough to walk again. 

But Doll fell again, this time inside the entrance. Paramedics transported him to a hospital.

What Doll didn't know is that the Summit County Board of Elections offers curbside voting to those who wish to remain in their vehicles. Though employees provided him with a chair during his health crisis, nobody offered to bring Doll his ballot.

In a Thursday interview while still hospitalized, Doll said that had he known, he would have cast his vote while seated or curbside from his vehicle “in a heartbeat.”

“I didn’t know that they even offered such a thing, but when I do go, I’ll ask them. … For me it would definitely help,” he said.

“I definitely want to vote. It’s very important to me because for one, it’s a presidential election, and plus there’s a lot of levies on the ballot that I want to make sure I vote for. … Given our right to vote, I want to make sure that I can do it,” Doll said.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to upend Americans’ lives  — with major second waves of infection spreading throughout several states — voters are left with the question of how to vote securely and safely during a public health crisis. As more citizens opt to vote early, whether in person or through absentee mail-in ballots, advocates are urging election officials to rethink what accessibility means for voters during the pandemic, particularly for those already living with medical conditions or disabilities. 

“Voting of course should be available to everyone who is eligible to vote, including people with disabilities,” said Ruth Colker, a professor at the Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University.

Voter turnout among Ohioans with disabilities dropped between the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections from 58% to 53%, researchers from Rutgers University found. 

>> More::How to cast an absentee ballot in Summit County

In 2016, the Government Accountability Office found nearly two-thirds of the polling locations it inspected to contain at least one barrier for voters with disabilities. The impediments ranged from lack of signs indicating accessible paths to voting systems and stations “that could impede the casting of a private and independent vote.”

Colker, whose research focuses on disability rights, noted the pandemic has brought on additional accessibility challenges, between social distancing requirements, longer-than-usual lines and legitimate concerns about the spread of disease even in open-air waiting lines. 

On Tuesday, many Summit County voters waited approximately two hours to cast their ballots. The county also saw a significant increase in first-time voter turnout among early voters compared to the 2016 election. More than 4,000 voted the first three days.

“Times have changed and so what it means to be accessible has changed, because there are some people who can’t handle the lines,” Colker said. “There could be a number of reasons why people might conclude that the early voting centers are not accessible to them. So then the question is, what does the state have to do about it?” she said. 

Protections in place

Federal protections exist to ensure that voters with disabilities and medical issues are able to vote privately and independently. The American with Disabilities Act and the Help America Vote Act both include guidance on how to maintain accessible polling locations, from offering curbside voting to making sure that polling machines can accommodate people with motor, vision and other impairments. 

The Summit County voting center has 50 voting booths. Three of those booths are seated, and one voting station is designed for people with visual, motor or other impairments. 

But the mere existence of such options is not enough. In order for these protections to be effective, voters with disabilities must know the options that are available to them. 

The Americans with Disabilities Act states that curbside voting systems must also include signage notifying voters that they can vote curbside, where they can vote curbside, and how they can let an election official know that he or she is waiting. 

The Summit County Board of Elections has four designated parking spots for curbside voting at its 470 Grant St. office. Though the area itself included two signs indicating that the location is a curbside voting location, and lists a phone number a curbside voter should call to, there were no other signs directing voters to that area on Friday.

Board of Elections Chairman Bill Rich said more signage is planned.

“There is a sign posted about curbside voting, but we need to and we are going to put up more signs so that people … before people actually get in line they know. Those were supposed to be put up, but somebody didn’t get them up so we’re going to get them up,” Rich said Friday.

Other assistance

Colker noted that while curbside voting is one way of accommodating voters with health concerns or disabilities, there are other ways that election officials can support these voters. 

“They shouldn’t just have a right to engage in curbside voting. They should have a right, if they want, to sit down and be able to wait in line without worrying about collapsing. They should have a way to ask to go to the front of the line. So they can still get inside safely before they overheated and fell ill,” Colker said. 

She also emphasized the importance of facilitating independent and private voting for people who are elderly, ill, or have disabilities. 

Installing signs that notify people that they have the option of skipping the line if they do not feel well, or making chairs visible and easily accessible are some additional ways to support voters, Colker said. She noted that when she voted on Thursday, she was disappointed to see that her own polling location in Franklin County had no chairs outside and “no apparent process in place to assist people who couldn’t stand for 45 minutes in a line.”

Rich, who was not present during Doll’s health crisis, said the board was unaware of his medical condition until he collapsed the first time. He acknowledged an election worker could have notified Doll of the option to vote curbside or from a chair. 

“They could have asked him if he wanted to vote right in the chair outside of the building. … He could have been offered that, and it may just be that nobody thought to do it,” Rich said.

He added that chairs are available for anyone who needs them. Voters or friends and family of voters can request chairs. Voters can hold their place in line while seated. 

In addition to installing signs notifying voters of their rights, Akron Votes organizer Lillie Jackson said election workers could make periodic verbal announcements to the crowd about curbside voting and the availability of chairs, among other accommodations.

“Elderly people, I feel, are bound and determined to vote, and a lot of them want to vote in person. And I think that’s something they should initiate right away and let people know," she said.

In the meantime, Jackson encouraged voters to bring snacks, medication and other supplies while waiting.

Voters, too, can look out for one another as long lines are showing no signs of slowing down, Jackson said.

“It just takes someone having that assertiveness and just doing it,” she said.

Ohio early in-person voting hours:

Voting must be done at your county's board of elections.

Oct.12-16: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Oct. 19-23: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Oct. 24: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Oct. 25: 1 to 5 p.m.

Oct. 26-30: 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Oct. 31: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Nov. 1: 1 to 5 p.m.

Nov. 2: 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Seyma Bayram is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Learn more at reportforamerica.org. Contact her at sbayram@gannett.com or 330-996-3327 or on Twitter @SeymaBayram0.