Augusta preps for election season, helping with more accessibility at the polls

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - The Richmond County Board of Elections teamed up with the “I Vote My Vote” campaign, to help voters with disabilities practice casting their ballots for elections.

Poll workers and people from the National Federation of the Blind, Georgia Garden City Chapter, helped while encouraging people who are learning the process for the first time.

It’s a learning process that comes in a few forms. People got to practice and cast their votes using headphones and a remote.

It’s making sure anyone who wants to cast their vote can, in preparation for this election season.

It’s making sure important opportunities, like voting, are accessible to everyone.

“A lot of people do not realize how important their vision is, until you see somebody who doesn’t have it. And to watch them what they have to go through. Just a simple task all of us take for granted. Voting was kind of a major ordeal for them, because not only did they have to listen to everything they had to learn and how to manipulate the actual controller to use the demo machine, and then also to vote,” said Barbara Roberts, Poll Manager.

But voting just like many other tasks in our daily lives can be taken for granted. Even figuring out a ride to the polls is something they have to coordinate.

“Then we figure out okay, where’s the transportation coming from today? Then, after the transportation, okay, let’s get there and find out where the walkways are, are there sidewalks and then is this the right side of the building, is the cab driver or the Lyft, driver, blind friendly, and then they lead us off in some way. But we don’t know where we are. Now. We got to figure it out,” said Dr. Bishop Darryl Rutledge, President of the National Federation of the Blind, Georgia Garden City Chapter.

One person even voted for the very first time today.

“She was learning for the first time and she was very excited about, you know, being able to vote on her own because she never thought being blind that she would be able to do it, you know, but to be able to experience it, and get it done. It was awesome thing for her,” he said Dr. Rutledge.

Hoping this starts a conversation for a more accessible and inclusive future.

“We want to achieve more integration into the community, working with law enforcement, even working with housing, to make sure that there’s adequate housing for people with disabilities,” he said.

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