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Grants Help Disabled Voters

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Statistics show people with disabilities vote 20 percent less than the general population.

State dollars are going toward increasing the disability vote through the Help America Vote Act Project.   

20 counties throughout Ohio will receive grants ranging from 40-dollars to more than 15-thousand dollars to provide for upgrades and permanent improvements to polling locations in 92 precincts.  

Carolyn Bailey Lewis is a member of the Help America Vote Act Team.

"Some of the barriers could be anything from the lack of a ramp, to problems with things blocking the door, to the doors not being wide enough, to a person who is blind not having access to a machine that would read the ballot for them.  But now all of those have been torn down and accessibility is much better than years past," says Lewis.

The funds for the project were made available through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.     

Lewis was formerly the director of WOUB Public Media and appeared on the WOUB televsion program Newswatch last night.