Elections officials are making progress in providing fully-accessible polling places throughout the city, but many Chicagoans with disabilities will still face barriers when casting their vote on Election Day next week.

About one-third of the city’s Election Day polling places are fully compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards, according to data released this month, although that may differ depending on where you live.

A WBEZ analysis of new polling place accessibility ratings published by the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners reveals wide geographic disparities in access to ADA-compliant polling places.

In some wards, more than half of all polling places are fully compliant with ADA standards, while in other wards the share of fully-compliant polling places is less than 20%. Voters in the 33rd Ward have just one fully-accessible polling place.

In preparation for the upcoming municipal election on Feb. 28, polling places are getting rated “high,” “medium,” or “low or no” accessibility, thanks to an ongoing effort to survey the accessibility of more than 900 polling places in the city.

• RELATED STORY
• Politics

City blows deadline to make all polling places accessible, deeply frustrating disabled voters 30 years after ADA became law

read more

The full list is only available on the board of elections website here. These are what the ratings mean:

• High: Voter-used areas are fully compliant with all ADA Standards for Accessible Design.

• Medium: Voter-used areas do not have steps, but contain another obstacle that would impede some voters with mobility impairments such as a sloped corridor that may be too steep for some or a doorway that is just shy of the minimum width.

• Low or No: Voter-used areas have at least one feature that is substantially out of compliance with ADA standards that is likely to exclude many people with mobility impairments, such as one or more steps, ramps with excessive slopes or doorways that are too narrow.

• Unknown: The board doesn’t currently have enough information to completely determine ADA compliance.

About 36% of polling places in Chicago are rated “high” accessibility, 20% are “medium,” 27% are “low or no” accessibility, 5% are not fully surveyed but known to have no steps and 12% are currently not fully surveyed, according to a WBEZ analysis of data from the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners published on Feb. 20, 2023.

The new ratings are intended to provide more detail for people with disabilities to make informed decisions about polling place accessibility, said Bebe Novich, a senior attorney at Equip for Equality, a paid contractor with the elections board that is leading survey efforts.

“This is a temporary system to classify the accessibility of polling places until we reach 100% ADA compliance for all voting sites in Chicago,” said Max Bever, director of public information at the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners.

Under a 2017 settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, the board of election commissioners must make all voting sites completely ADA compliant by November 2024. The board blew its previous November 2022 deadline, already a four-year extension of the original November 2018 deadline.

ADA noncompliance appeared to be a citywide issue under the old ratings system where locations were deemed either “accessible” or “inaccessible.” During the November 2022 midterm elections, more than 90% of polling places in Chicago were classified as “inaccessible.”

While more complete survey information and additional progress made to remediate polling sites citywide paints a rosier picture than last year, accessibility ratings differ greatly on a ward-to-ward basis.

The 27th Ward, which covers parts of the Near West Side, has 14 ADA-compliant polling places, the highest out of any ward. The 43rd Ward, which covers parts of Lincoln Park, is the next highest, with 13 ADA-compliant polling places. Nearly 70% of all polling places in the 43rd Ward are fully accessible to people with disabilities, the highest percentage share of any ward. Fewer than 12% of all polling places in both the 27th and 43rd wards are rated “low or no” accessibility.

Meanwhile, the 33rd Ward, which includes parts of Albany Park and Irving Park, has only one ADA-accessible polling place. Half of its polling places are rated “low or no” accessibility. Among all wards, six is the median number of ADA-accessible polling places, according to a WBEZ analysis.

And in the 37th Ward, which covers parts of the Austin and Humboldt Park communities, just 8% of polling places are fully compliant. Roughly two-thirds of its polling places are rated “low or no” accessibility.

“Neighborhoods that are showing high lack of accessibility are also some of our neighborhoods that have some of your most disenfranchised individuals socio-economically, poor transportation options, et cetera,” said Robin Jones, director of Great Lakes ADA Center, a federally-funded organization that provides education and training about ADA compliance. “It’s concerning.”

Novich, with Equip for Equality, suggests the disparity could be attributed to the age of buildings, as buildings constructed before ADA standards were established are likely less compliant.

“If there’s a disparity in the age of buildings, which there likely is in different neighborhoods in the city, that’s bound to be reflected in polling places too, in when they were built [and] how much money has gone into fixing them up over time,” said Novich.

Bever, spokesperson for the board of election commissioners, acknowledged the geographic disparity and said there was no prioritization of resources based on location, but the board focused remediation on publicly owned buildings such as Chicago Public Schools and Chicago Park District buildings.

Chicago Public Schools buildings and park district field houses make up roughly half of all polling places used in Chicago. Currently, the majority of both types of these polling places are not fully ADA compliant and among the least accessible types of buildings currently used as polling places, according to a WBEZ analysis.

These are public spaces that should be ADA accessible for residents and students to begin with, Jones said.

“It’s something that both private and public buildings should be much farther along [with] at this point, but it is still a challenge in the city of Chicago to find a place that the public can enter that is fully ADA compliant and accessible,” said Bever.

Bever said the elections board also doesn’t own any property, so it’s up to the building owners to fund and make upgrades themselves, many of which are projects that take time and were set back due to the pandemic.

“We know there’s a lot of work to be done and there’s a lot of partners and a lot of government agencies and a lot of people that need to be part of this process and continue to be a part of this process,” said Bever, who is hopeful the board will have more improvements to share ahead of 2024.

Other options for people with disabilities are voting by mail or voting at one of the 50 Early Voting sites, Bever said. Curbside voting is also available upon request prior to 5 p.m. on Feb. 27.

All Early Voting sites are rated “high” for accessibility and open on Election Day to any voters, no matter where they live. The deadline to request a vote by mail ballot is Feb. 23. The application is available here.

Even if there are alternatives, Jones said that it’s important that voters with disabilities have the option to vote on Election Day at their precinct’s polling place or to volunteer as election judges on Election Day.

“People with disabilities should be given the same opportunity to exercise their voting rights as people without disabilities,” said Jones.

Voters can call the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners, 312-269-7976, or email cboe@chicagoelections.gov for any questions about polling place accessibility.

Amy Qin is a data reporter for WBEZ. Follow her at @amyqin12.