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While most Michigan voters are able to make a simple plan for voting — Where is the polling place, and when am I going? — voters with disabilities often have a lot more issues to contend with.
Users of wheelchairs or other mobility aids need to know: Will the polling place have accessible parking, a clear pathway in, and an entrance anyone can use? For those with other disabilities: Will the voting machine designed to be accessible for all be set up and available, as the law requires? Will there be a booth where people can cast their ballots privately, even if they can’t stand?
Across Metro Detroit in 2022, the answer more than 80% of the time was no, according to researchers from Detroit Disability Power. For people who depend on such accommodations — more than 25% of U.S. adults have some form of disability, according to the CDC — these gaps can make exercising the basic right to vote seem unfairly burdensome, or even impossible.