The Hays County Commissioners Court announced the relocation of two voting locations and the termination of another in order to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements, during its Oct. 14 session.
Prior to upcoming elections on Nov. 4, all voting centers in the county went through an ADA compliance audit, some of the previous voting locations could no longer be used and were replaced by alternate areas but some locations like Driftwood Historical Conservation Society were taking off the list entirely.
Denton Ragland, president and chief executive officer of Driftwood Community Center, said he was surprised they were taken off the list.
“I did not see the paperwork myself but I do know the slope of the ramp was flagged [by the ADA auditor]… but there is just not a good and easy fix [for the ramp],” Ragland said.
Ragland said plans to make another entrance for people with disabilities are underway for better access to the building, even though it will not be in time for the election.
While Driftwood Community Center closed as a polling location, locations such as Sunfield Station and Dripping Springs Learning Center were moved to different voting locations in response to their failure to be ADA compliant.
Jennifer Doinoff, Hays County election administrator, said the county had to make sure the appropriate voting locations changes not only adhered to the ADA compliance standards, but were able to house the voting locations in such a short notice.
“The reason that we relocated Sunfield and Learning Center and not necessarily Driftwood, was because those are early voting sites,” Doinoff said. “We realized that the impact of losing those locations would be much more noticeable, so we went ahead and tried to find some locations to relocate early voting.”
During the meeting, Kathy Thomas, San Marcos resident, emphasized her disappointment with the removal of some of the voting locations and raised her concerns behind the changes.
“Commissioner [Walt] Smith said they were not ADA compliant which seems convenient given the locations he’s asking to remove one week before early voting begins, did they suddenly become ADA noncompliant?” Thomas said. “I’m particularly concerned about the Sunfield site and the Texas State LBJ Student Center which are listed as early voting locations … removing them disadvantages communities that historically lean democratic and raise concerns”
Jayme Blaschke, assistant director for office of media relations at Texas State, said the university received a noncompliance notice following the countywide inspection, finding issues with the location’s sidewalks and ADA entrance.
“Providing early voting locations is a service that we do to be a good member of the community, to convenience for the city of San Marcos and Hays County, there are very few locations that can handle the volume of early voting that Texas State does,” Blaschke said.
The inspection discovered sidewalks with irregular slopes and the ADA access entrance between Encino Hall and the Campus Bus Loop to be noncompliant to elevation change requirements.
Under the ADA requirements, accessible routes must be a minimum of 36 inches wide but may narrow briefly to 32 inches for a distance of up to 24 inches.
Polling Location entrances are required to have a minimum clear width of 32 inches for mobility users, user friendly door hardware and no high thresholds that impede mobility users.
Texas State finished temporary construction measures to address the issues found in time for early election season.
While there are no plans for additional changes to the LBJ location for the upcoming election, Blaschke said plans for permanent changes to further adhere to the ADA requirements are in the distant future.
“Permanent solutions will involve replacing the sidewalks with new sidewalks to adjust, you know, take into account everything, but that’s a greater investment, and so that’s going to require regular budget cycles, facilities, repair procedures, that’s long term,” Blaschke said.
On Oct. 21, the county released a press release listing the new locations. Holiday Inn Express replaced Sunfield and Patriot’s Hall Wellness Center replaced Dripping Springs Learning Center.
Doinoff said the changes would not be permanent locations for the primary elections as to the significant business and regular operation impact on the last minute locations chosen.
“Holiday Inn Express was very kind to let us get in, but I’m not sure that they would be as happy with a U.S. election or a gubernatorial election when the electioneering and the volume of voting is much higher, so we will be looking to either try to facilitate something with Sunfield, or trying to find something in that subdivision,” Dionoff said.
Dionoff emphasized the county’s efforts and priority to make sure polling locations are accessible to all Hays County residents in the future.
“We’re doing our very best to make sure that our polling locations are ADA compliant, and that we’re not violating any of those standards that people with disabilities need in order to come in and vote,” Doinoff said. “So we take this very seriously, and we’re going to continue to do what we have to make sure that we’re up to the latest and standard.”
