Source: https://www.ada.gov/lackawanna_sa.html
Timestamp: 2020-07-10 19:30:00
Document Index: 414685402

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 12131', '§ 12132', '§ 35', '§ 12132', '§ 35', '§ 35', '§ 35']

Settlement Agreement between the United States and Lackawanna County
AND LACKAWANNA COUNTY
This settlement agreement (the "Agreement") is entered into between the United States of America and Lackawanna County (collectively, the "Parties").
The United States Department of Justice (the “Department”) opened an investigation of Lackawanna County (the “County”) under title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, as amended (“ADA”), 42 U.S.C. §§ 12131-12134, and title II’s implementing regulation, 28 C.F.R. pt. 35, to determine the physical accessibility of the County’s polling places to people with mobility and vision disabilities.
The County, through its Bureau of Elections, is responsible for reviewing the accessibility of each polling place and selecting each polling place. The County has 163 voting precincts.
During the May 16, 2017 primary election, the United States surveyed 57 of the County’s 163 polling place locations. The United States found that many of the County’s precincts are housed in polling places which contain barriers to access for persons with disabilities, and that the County violated title II by failing to select and use facilities as polling places on Election Day that are accessible to persons with disabilities. The accessibility barriers identified by the United States are contained in Attachment 1.
“Election” or “Election Day” as used in this Agreement shall include both primary and general elections.
Lackawanna County shall not exclude individuals with disabilities from participation in or deny them the benefits of the voting program, or subject them to discrimination, on the basis of disability. 42 U.S.C. § 12132; 28 C.F.R. §§ 35.130, 35.149. The County shall select facilities to be used as polling places that do not exclude individuals with disabilities from or deny them the benefits of the polling place, or otherwise subject them to discrimination. 42 U.S.C. § 12132; 28 C.F.R. § 35.130(b)(4). The County shall administer its voting program in the most integrated setting appropriate to the needs of persons with disabilities. 28 C.F.R. § 35.130(d).
For all elections occurring after the 2019 general election, the County will implement measures to remediate the violations at polling places identified and as set forth in Attachment 1, to make those polling place locations accessible on Election Day, or will relocate those locations not remediated to an alternative accessible location pursuant to the process established in Paragraph 18 of this Agreement. If the County asserts, and the United States agrees, that remediation or relocation to an accessible facility is infeasible, then the County shall comply with Title II’s program accessibility requirements. 28 C.F.R. § 35.150.
The County will develop or utilize a survey instrument to assess whether a polling place location is or can be made accessible on Election Day, whether temporarily or permanently. The County may adopt and approve the June 2016 ADA Checklist for Polling Places as the survey instrument required under this paragraph, and if the County adopts the June 2016 ADA Checklist for Polling Places as its survey instrument and provides photographs and identifies appropriate remedial measures pursuant to Paragraph 16 of this Agreement, the instrument is deemed approved by the United States for the purposes of this Paragraph. If the County chooses to develop its own survey instrument, the survey instrument will be based on the 2010 Standards and the United States' "ADA Checklist for Polling Places" publication located at www.ada.gov/votingck.htm. The survey instrument will include a requirement to include photographs and will also require the identification of appropriate remedial measures in Paragraph 16 of this Agreement. The survey instrument will be submitted to the United States for review and approval within 45 days of the Effective Date of this Agreement. The County shall incorporate in its survey instrument any changes, additions, or modifications proposed by the United States.
Beginning with the effective date of this Agreement, the County will survey the polling place locations not surveyed by the United States that the County intends to use in future elections, using the survey instrument referenced in Paragraph 17 of this Agreement. The County will provide these surveys to the United States as they are conducted, and will ensure that all are provided to the United States no later than March 31, 2021.
If the United States concludes that a survey was conducted in error, then the County will re-survey the portions of the polling place in question. If the United States concludes that the County has proposed a remedial provision that does not fully address the violation, then the County will propose and implement, subject to the review and approval of the United States, a remedial measure consistent with Paragraph 16 of this Agreement. If the County chooses not to or is unable to implement one or more of the recommended temporary remedial measures, it will relocate the inaccessible polling place location to an accessible polling place location selected pursuant to the process established by Paragraph 18 of this Agreement.
For the polling place locations surveyed by the County pursuant to Paragraph 19 of this Agreement, by December 31, 2022, the County will implement the appropriate remedial provisions to make polling place locations accessible on Election Day, or will relocate inaccessible locations to an alternative accessible location pursuant to the process established by Paragraph 18 of this Agreement.
For the duration of this Agreement, when the County selects a new polling place location, the County will provide the United States notice within 45 days of the decision, along with copies of all surveys (and photographs) conducted in relation to the decision to use the location as a polling place. The United States’ approval must be obtained prior to the location being used in an election. The United States’ approval will be based exclusively on whether the proposed polling place location satisfies the survey instrument referenced in Paragraph 17 of this Agreement.
After the 2019 general election, and at each training session for each election thereafter, the County will identify each Election Officer in attendance whose polling place was identified as non-compliant by an EDS compliance review from the previous election (pursuant to Paragraph 28 of this Agreement). The County will explain to each Election Officer the nature of the noncompliance and explain what the Election Officer must do to remedy the identified issues on Election Day.
After the 2019 general election, prior to each election during the term of this Agreement, the County will provide training to all EDSs designated pursuant to Paragraph 29 of this Agreement. The training of the EDSs will address: (a) temporary measures, including why they are needed and how the measures must be implemented (e.g., how to install ramps, the placement of mats over (and not in front of) thresholds); (b) how to resolve errors in the implementation of temporary measures on Election Day; (c) how to document the implementation of temporary measures on Election Day using checklists or compliance review forms referenced in Paragraph 28; and (d) what the EDSs are required to do to implement the requirements of this Agreement.
In the materials provided to each Judge of Election for Election Day, the County will include a checklist of the temporary measures to be implemented on Election Day at each polling place location where such measures are required. The checklist must contain a place for a signature by the Judge of Election that he or she put the temporary measures in place and kept them in place throughout Election Day, from the opening of the polls to their closing, and be returned to the County along with other election materials. Copies of these checklists will be provided to the United States within 21 days of the election. Electronic copies or copies in electronic form are acceptable.
Beginning after the 2019 general election, and throughout the duration of this Agreement, the County will designate County personnel (or contractors) as EDSs to review compliance of at least ten (10) polling place locations where temporary measures are to be implemented on Election Day. The County and the EDSs will use the checklist developed pursuant to Paragraph 28 of this Agreement to review compliance on Election Day. The EDSs will be required to document their compliance reviews (both compliant and non-compliant polling place locations) with photographs. After documenting a non-compliant polling place location, the EDSs shall remedy any non-compliant implementation of a temporary remedy when possible. Copies of these compliance reviews will be provided to the United States within 21 days after the election.
If the County does not properly implement the temporary remedial measures necessary at a particular polling place location on Election Day in two consecutive elections, and the County does not make permanent architectural remediations, then the County will no longer use the polling place location and will relocate it to an accessible location or one that can be made accessible on Election Day pursuant to Paragraph 18 of this Agreement. If the County asserts, and the United States agrees, that remediation or relocation to an accessible facility is infeasible, then the County shall comply with Title II’s program accessibility requirements.
Brian Jeffers (jeffersb@lackawannacounty.org)
Marion Medalis (medalism@lackawannacounty.org)
Director of Department of Elections
Term: This Agreement will remain in effect for four years from the Effective Date.