The Metro: What it means to improve voting access for people with disabilities

In the 2022 election, 20% of people with disabilities were likely to face difficulties voting. That’s compared to 6% of people without disabilities. That’s all according to a federal report conducted in partnership with Rutgers University. 

Detroit Disability Power has done extensive research on the obstacles people with disabilities face when voting in metro Detroit. In a recent report, they found that 84% of polling locations here are inaccessible to people with disabilities. So how can we increase access — even in the 11th hour as early voting is underway?

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Disability Power Detroit Founder Dessa Cosma joined The Metro to discuss their report looking at polling accessibility. She says in Detroit, there are 117,000 voting age residents with disabilities. 

“So we’re not only a large community, but we are all really different from each other in a lot of ways. So when we’re looking at what makes a poll site accessible, for example, there’s two things to keep in mind,” Cosma says. “One is we’re basing this on what’s required by law. So when a site is not accessible by the standards we measure, that doesn’t mean that it’s not convenient or pleasant for a disabled voter, it actually means that that site is not abiding by federal law. So it’s very serious, in addition to the fact that you know, voting should be easy and convenient for people. But secondly, it’s important to remember that accessibility looks different depending on a person’s disability.”

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation with Cosma.

More headlines from The Metro on Oct. 29, 2024: 

• The election is just one week away. Canton Township Clerk Michael Siegrist joined the show to answer questions and help people make a voting plan. People can also find information on elections and voting in WDET’s voter guide. 
• It’s Been A Minute is an NPR podcast that tackles weekly news, culture and what’s trending in the U.S. Recently, the podcast produced a series highlighting influential people and things from a given city. The show’s host Brittany Luse is from Detroit, so she reached out to WDET Created Equal Producer Cary Junior and The Metro’s Host Tia Graham to debate what the most influential thing to come out of Detroit is. 
• According to the Pew Center for Research, Americans ages 30 and up disproportionately support Israelis over Palestinians. But that flips significantly when it comes to people under 30. Producer for The Metro Sam Corey recently had a conversation with Syma Echeandia, a member of the T’chiyah temple in Ferndale. Being an elder in her temple, Syma spoke about being proud of her Jewish identity and critical of a Jewish state, a tension that’s hard for many people to hold. In the conversation, they discussed how Echeandia’s views have changed over time, and why she thinks it’s important to criticize the country she cares about deeply.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.