LYNN – The Human Rights Commission is tackling a decade-old issue for its first case, but Chairman Robert Tucker is undeterred.”(The Highlands Coalition) outlined the voting rights issue at the Ford School,” said Tucker. “We listened and took their paperwork, and now we’ll meet with Inspectional Services and the Election Committee to hear their side that it’s not handicap accessible.”Which might not be as simple as Tucker hopes.The coalition filed a complaint protesting the relocation of the polling station from the Ford School to North Shore Community College. It has been an issue for the coalition for nearly a decade, since the state ruled the Ford School ineligible as a polling location due to its lack of accessibility to the disabled.The Review Committee, a subcommittee of HRC, heard the complaint Tuesday.Election Committee Director Mary Audley said she declined to meet with the board.”My statement says it all,” she said. “The place is not handicap accessible according to the ADA (American Disability Act) and it’s not going to change.”Audley said she feels the ground has been covered numerous times and need not be trod on again.”It’s been nine years since they’ve voted in the Highlands,” she added. “We’ve been through all avenues. We went to the Massachusetts Discrimination Board and they ruled for the city.”Members of the Highlands Coalition were decidedly more positive following Tuesday’s hearing”I think we got our point across,” said coalition President Leslie Greenberg.Greenberg came armed with a thick file of data complete with charts and graphs that showed while voter involvement has gone down since 2004 the number of registered voters has increased. That could be said for the entire city, however, according to Audley, who provided the election information for the coalition.Greenberg also repeated concerns she has registered in the past that NSCC is too far away for people without transportation to walk and impossible for those who are handicapped to reach.”I didn’t throw all my paperwork at them,” she said smiling. “I have tons of stuff.”But what she did present, she said, tells the story.”The Ford School is not the (end) all of everything,” she said. “But it’s a community school that services everybody. People feel safe walking into that building.”She said going to NSCC was not welcoming, and she shrugged off the idea that KIPP Academy might make a good alternative.”We don’t know anyone there,” she said. “The Highlands is not just a house with a number. I know others feel the same way about their neighborhoods but we’re different.”Tucker said the review committee’s job is to hear both sides of the issue and if it “makes the determination that there is probable cause, then we’ll refer it to the whole board.”He called the coalition well prepared but said there was still information the board needed to obtain, “then we’ll take it from there.”Chris Stevens can be reached at [email protected].