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Glenda Hyatt and her husband Darryl Hyatt, who both use electric mobility aids to get around, were heading to cast their ballots and have their say in Surrey’s civic election Saturday — but after backtracking several times, they still couldn’t find a way into the voting station.
“We continued along until we saw open doors,” said Glenda, using a text-to-speech device.
“But what lay between us was a choice between going up a set of stairs or going up a grassy hill.”
Glenda told CBC News she has tipped her scooter over on uneven ground before, breaking her arm. She said she wouldn’t take that risk again.
The Hyatts went home Saturday without voting.
Glenda said she felt discriminated against and had to hold back tears while leaving the voting station at Kwantlen Park Secondary School.
She sent emails to all seven mayoral candidates in Surrey, hoping their responses will inform her vote if she chooses to try again in this election.
Darryl said that once they hit that dead end between a staircase and a grassy hill, there were no volunteers around to help, and they were too far from the entrance to ask for assistance.
He said there was no signage showing a wheelchair-accessible route into the voting station.
“So once again, we were stopped,” said Darryl.
City to add more signs
In an email to CBC News, Surrey’s chief election officer, Gib van Ert, said the city is responding to accessibility concerns by adding more signage and reminding staff to direct voters to accessible entrances and inform them about curbside voting services.
Ensuring every eligible resident can vote in the municipal election is a key priority for the city, he wrote.
The email said accessibility measures are in place at the Kwantlen Park Secondary School voting station, including an “accessible entrance and curbside voting,” but “feedback suggests they may not have been sufficiently visible or clearly communicated to all voters.”
Not uncommon
“Voting for people with disabilities and seniors has been a big issue in previous elections and this election as well,” said Spencer van Vloten, an advocate for inclusive public spaces who is also running for Vancouver park board with the Greens.
He said accessibility means people should be able to get where they’re going without having to loop around a building.
There should be ramps, clear paths, accessible parking, adequate signage and accessible bathrooms, which van Vloten said are lacking at some voting stations across the province.
Van Vloten said these issues have persisted for years, and if people living with disabilities aren’t represented in the vote, then “decision makers are less likely to factor them in.”
He said accessibility has to be “at the foundation of all public decision making when it comes to voting,” and whoever is elected needs to make accessibility one of the “leading considerations” when it comes to policymaking.