Polling places aren’t handicapped-accessible and need to be, Newark says in lawsuit

Stairs at Benjamin Franklin School in Newark

A suit filed by the City of Newark against the Essex County Board of Elections charges that an elderly voter had to be carried down and up this flight of stairs to the polling place at Benjamin Franklin School.City of Newark

The City of Newark is suing local and county election officials, demanding that all polling places be made handicapped accessible for next month’s Congressional primaries and city council runoffs, after the mayor and others said some frail or elderly voters could not cast ballots in the May 10 non-partisan municipal election.

The suit, which was filed in state Superior Court in Newark on Friday, charges that the Essex County Board of Elections and other officials violated the federal Americans with Disabilities Act and a state statute requiring accessibility of polling places. It seeks an order from a judge “requiring that the Board provide handicapped accessible polling sites throughout the city.”

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