Chatham finds lots of polling places non-compliant

With elections looming, elections supervisors are finishing last-minute details to ensure polling places comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

When Chatham County A.D.A. co-ordinator James Aberson went looking for A.D.A. non-compliance, he found it in a big way. "Well, there are about 90 polling places all together," Aberson says. "And there were about eighty of them that needed some degress of modification."

Most non-compliance is minor and would not prevent anyone from casting a ballot. Still, fixing problems, like proper sizing of parking spaces, would make it easier. And, Secretary of State spokeswoman Whitney Halterman says, there's some money for it.

"It's two hundred twenty thousand dollars," Halterman says.

That's how much 20 counties are splitting to improve their A.D.A. compliance. As to whether Chatham County is typical, experts say, it's hard to tell. Few counties have done as thorough a job documenting their A.D.A. shortcomings.