Abby Road confronted numerous barriers to keep her voting streak
unbroken during the city’s September primary—and she’s afraid
that she’ll face more obstacles to vote in the Nov. 3 general
election.
“I don’t want to lose any more of my rights,” Road declares. She’s
confined to an aging, 300-pound, battery-powered wheelchair because of
arthritis and a degenerative bone disease, and the 46-year old is
working diligently to correct what she believes is a dangerous
situation. (See “Limited Movement,” May 10, 2007.)
Road, a pseudonym she often uses, lives near Speedway and Columbus
boulevards. She says she’s never voted by mail, and instead chooses to
go to her local polling place on Election Day.
In the past, that wasn’t a problem. For the 2005 city election, she
voted at a church on Columbus Boulevard; two years ago, she cast her
ballot at another church only a few blocks from her house.
But this year, things changed. In Road’s area, the city is now using
one polling location for people from four different precincts. As a
result, Road’s polling place is now the clubhouse of the Arcadia Park
Apartments, near Broadway Boulevard and Arcadia Avenue. That’s about 1
1/2 miles from her home.
Tucson City Clerk Roger Randolph explains what happened: “Due to a
consolidation of polling places, we had to move hers around a little
bit.”
It wasn’t the distance to the polling place that Road found
disconcerting. “I ride on city streets all over and don’t mind it,” she
says. Instead, it was the conditions she experienced on Arcadia Avenue
that discouraged Road.
The east side of the street has sidewalks, but no curb cuts for
wheelchairs. The west side of Arcadia borders Rincon/University High
School and has no sidewalk, just a gravel path.
On Election Day, Road instead maneuvered her wheelchair down the
street. “It has bumpy-bumpies,” she remarks of Arcadia’s rough
pavement.
More threatening, she says, were the automobiles using Arcadia,
along with the school buses lined up on the street. “I was just trying
not to get hit,” she remembers.
Road is not the only person to complain about the sidewalk
situation.
“The lack of accessible sidewalks in Tucson is a great access issue
and a concern we often hear,” says J.J. Rico, an attorney for the
Arizona Center for Disability Law.
Once Road arrived at the apartment complex where the polling site
was located, she found there weren’t any sidewalks through the parking
lot—but that was only a minor irritant compared to what came
next.
“A sign pointed to another door,” she says about accessibility for
disabled people to the clubhouse room. “But I couldn’t get my
wheelchair through the door (because the opening wasn’t wide
enough).”
At the main entrance to the polling place, Road came upon a
threshold which looks insignificant to an able-bodied person. But to
someone in a wheelchair, it was major.
“I had to ram the threshold,” Road recalls. “The second time, I got
in.”
Road says that upon exiting, the drop caused by the threshold gave
her quite a jolt. “It doesn’t look like much,” she says, “but it was
painful.”
When contacted about the threshold problem, Pima County officials,
who are assisting the city with the election, indicated that they will
install a ramp for the Nov. 3 vote. Randolph also says additional
signage will be used at the site.
Those changes are missing the main point, says Road.
“They did a terrible job of choosing a polling place,” Road
believes. “This isn’t just about me. … I’m doing this for the lady
pushing a baby stroller as well as other disabled people.”
Randolph says the city reached a 2005 settlement with the U.S.
Department of Justice agreeing that polling places meet the
requirements of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). The city
clerk says his office uses a checklist while selecting polling places
to comply with the DOJ agreement.
“We ensure ADA compliance from the street (to the polling place),”
Randolph points out. “We can’t ensure it for all streets.”
Road tried to get officials to move her polling place for the
general election, but that’s probably not going to happen.
Peri Jude Radecic, executive director of the Arizona Center for
Disability Law, says Road might have legal grounds to take action. That
option, Road says, is one she is considering.
While Road’s complaints have received a lot of attention from public
and political officials, she isn’t happy about much of what’s she’s
heard.
“Political officials are acting like I should chose another option,”
Road says about her contact with both Democratic and Republican Party
offices. They suggested she vote by mail instead, Road remembers.
“All options should be available to me,” Road insists. “Instead,
they’re putting me in danger.”
To get to the apartment complex, some people may think Road should
use Sun Van, the transportation service for disabled people.
“You shouldn’t have to be in a car to vote,” Road responds. “What if
I took the bus? I believe in my right to vote. Having options means I
should be able to choose, and I choose to go to my polling place.”
Road feels that people are being discouraged from voting. “And I’m
being discouraged in every way possible,” she says.
This article appears in Oct 15-21, 2009.
This lady also fought Parks and Recreation Officials to open a fence they had put across the sidewalks at City Park for Blues Festival this Sunday. Police surrounded her saying they were not going to correct the situation for “this event” asking her to let this one go(like the officials who claimed they would be correcting the “situation” for the NEXT Election dismissing her as well!) She kept demanding they clear the access but then when a very old lady appeared waiting on the opposite side of this fence this lady Abby Rd. went Ballistic! She started yelling how ashamed those officials should be making an old lady stand there on her walker wondering how to get into the Blues Festival and asking if they also intended to make the poor woman go around to the other side of the park if she wanted equal access to our city park! One Official asked if she wanted him to “breach” the fence saying it was the events organizers and the fence company’s responsibility she shot right back at that guy from her wheelchair in front of all those police officers saying ” Then I am not the one who didn’t do a good job at work since it IS the responsibility of Parks and Recreation Officials to make sure this is done correctly and Yes I want you to breach that fence immediately if not sooner” When they continued to ignore her ordinary citizens at the park were moved to attempt to open the fence on their own to help the old lady through who was waiting in the sun at almost a hundred degrees. You bet your sweet boopies Park Officials arrived on a golf cart in a jiffy and opened that fence for the rest of the festival , simply posting a volunteer security officer there. But I did notice the cops followed her around a lot the rest of the day while she used that sidewalk in her wheelchair!