Dr. Scott Crawford couldn’t get his wheelchair through the door of the Hinds County, Mississippi, polling place he was inspecting several years ago. The door frame to enter Chastain Middle School’s gym should’ve been wide enough—but for the metal bar running down the center of it.
“It’s a non-starter,” he told the Mississippi Free Press on Oct. 26. “I could not get my wheelchair through that double door because neither side was wide enough with that metal bar running down the middle. You need at least a minimum 32” of clearance, but it is preferable to have 34” clear width.”
Those kinds of challenges at polling places aren’t unusual for Crawford, as both a wheelchair user himself and a disability rights activist in Jackson. Under federal law, polling places are supposed to adhere to requirements under the Americans with Disabilities Act to ensure disabled voters have equal access to polling places. But polling sites across Mississippi often fail to meet basic ADA requirements, he said.
Ahead of the 2023 primaries, he repeatedly raised serious concerns about a Hinds County polling place hosting 1,585 voters that he called “a metal box,” made out of a small shipping container that was inaccessible in a myriad of ways: It was too small for a wheelchair user to maneuver in alongside machines, other voters and poll workers; it had no guardrails; there was a two-inch lip at the bottom of the ramp; and there was an inch-and-a-half gap between the top of the ramp and the door, which opened outwards…