Ford fails as polling place

LYNN – The state has ruled that the Ford School does not meet the requirements for parking or accessibility need for polling locations, which should end the decadelong battle to bring voting back to the Highlands school.”As far as I’m concerned we’re back to square one,” said City Clerk Mary Audley, who also heads the Election Division. “We’re in the same place we were in 2004.”But Wendy Joseph, a member of the Highlands Coalition, which has led the fight to bring voting back to the Ford School, is not giving up the fight.”We are just incorporating the information ? and previous reports into an HRC (Human Rights Coalition) presentation I will be making on (March) 18th.”Audley shifted polling operations from the Ford School to North Shore Community College in 2004 after the school was deemed to be inaccessible to handicap voters.In her report, Bridget Simmons Murphy, an elections specialist with the state’s Election Division under Secretary of State William Galvin, noted, “It is important to note that in 2004 the Ford School was a polling location and was surveyed by the Massachusetts Office on Disability. At that time the Ford Elementary School was found to be not fully compliant with the regulations governing accessibility of polling locations and the polling location was subsequently moved to a fully accessible location.”Murphy also thanked Audley “for all you do to ensure voting is fully accessible in Lynn.”At that same time, Audley also closed several other polling locations in an effort to consolidate space and cut expenses. Since then the Highlands Coalition has fought to have voting reinstated at the Ford School, calling the move unfair to seniors and those without transportation.Joseph and Ford School Principal Claire Crane, along with Karen Richard and Joseph Smart from City Hall, were on hand for the survey that Murphy stated in her report covered a number of areas, including site access, parking, entrance and building interior. And the conclusion was simple, according to the Massachusetts Polling Place Accessibility Survey Results, the Ford School does not meet handicap parking requirements needed nor does the ramp meet state standards. The survey results state that the slope of the ramp is wrong, the landing between the upper and lower ramps opens to stairs and the top handrails are set too low.But Joseph wants to know just how far off the mark they are. Under the “Location Complies” portion of the report, it simply states “no,” she said.”It doesn’t tell us what the bar we have to reach is,” Joseph said. “We’re interested in how close we are. We merely want to get to the point where the City Council should take this matter up.”A second report prepared by the Massachusetts Office on Disability also noted that the Ford School failed to meet accessibility standards with parking and the ramp.Joseph said state law allows for a temporary ramp to be put in place if a permanent one is not feasible, but she did not mention who might pay for the ramp. She also said the coalition plans on reaching out to the city’s Disability Commission, which thus far, it appears, no one has thought to do.During the commission’s monthly meeting Tuesday, Chairman Lori Thompson called the fact that they had not been contacted a matter of the right hand not knowing what the left hand was doing. The Disability Commission was formed three years ago. Thompson, along with several of her colleagues, wondered why the Highlands Coalition would go to the Human Rights Commission before contacting the Disability Commission.”The Highlands Coalition has been very vocal. It’s an issue, making sure it’s accessible. We should also be involved,” Thompson said.Joseph will make her pitch to the HRC, in City Hall’s room 302, Tuesday, March 18. The meeting starts at 6 p.m.Item reporter Rich Tenorio contributed to this story.