Discrimination alleged in Lynn poll complaint
LYNN - A Highlands resident has filed a complaint stating that the lack of a polling place in the Ford School has "disproportionately affected racial minorities and the disabled."But City Clerk Mary Audley said the state left Lynn with few choices when it declared the school handicapped inaccessible in 2004.
In her complaint filed with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD), Highlands resident Leslie Greenberg said she suffers from arthritis and must travel over a mile to North Shore Community College as a result of the city's decision to close the Ford School as a polling place.
She said the city has repeatedly denied her requests and requests by other Highlands Coalition members to reopen Ford as a polling place.
"The racial makeup of voters originally assigned to Ford, and thus living closest to that polling station, is so diverse that the majority of voters are minorities," she stated in the complaint, adding, "I believe the discontinuation of Ford as a polling station has disproportionately affected racial minorities and the disabled."
Highlands Coalition Director David Gass said coalition members have spoken with Highlands residents and found that "hundreds of voters would support returning (the) poll to the school. It's an incentive for immigrant families to vote at the school where they pick up their children," Gass said. MCAD spokeswoman Barbara Green said Greenberg's complaint and the city's "position statement" will be reviewed by an agency investigator. Greenberg will be allowed to file a rebuttal to the city's statement.
"It will help determine if discrimination occurred or did not occur based on state civil rights laws," she said.
Audley on Thursday said she is preparing a written response to the complaint that will include documentation outlining the state's 2004 order warning the city about lack of access for disabled voters to Ford, Sisson, Shoemaker and other polling places.
She said state officials warned that the concrete ramp running from the Ford School's yard to the gymnasium was not in compliance with access requirements.
To comply with the access warnings, Audley said the city changed several polling places.
Ward 4 voters who cast ballots at Ford, the McGee House and Harrington School now vote at the college. Ward 5 and 6 voters who previously voted at four locations now vote at the School Department building on Commercial Street with the exception of Ward 5, Precinct 4 voters who cast ballots at the Housing Authority office on Church Street.
In her complaint, Greenberg stated "the Lynn City Council has shown a pattern of racial discrimination." She refers in the complaint to "a Latino candidate" who ran for City Council in 2000.
"During that election cycle, several members of the Lynn City Council stopped Hispanic voters outside of polling stations to question them about their residency status," Greenberg stated.
"I heard that," Manuel Nunez, a Ward 4 council candidate in 2001, said Thursday.
Nunez said Ward 4 voters also told him during his run for the ward seat that "a few councilors" came into the ward to support incumbent Councilor Richard Colucci.
"I didn't have any problems with that; it's the way it works, it's politics," Nunez said.
Colucci beat Nunez 1,004-641 votes in the 2001 final election for the ward seat.
Greenberg in her complaint said voter turnout by Highlands residents has dropped "30 to 40 percent" since 2004 but Audley said voter participation has declined across the city.
"The fact that the poll is not at the Ford School does not make a difference," Audley said.
Green said once the investigation into Greenberg's complaint is completed, MCAD has three options for ruling on the complaint. The commission can state there is probable cause to indicate discrimination occurred, it can state there is no probable cause and it can determine MCAD does not have jurisdiction over the complaint.
Green did not know how long the investigation will take to complete.
"There is no set time frame; every complaint is different," she said.
No comments:
Post a Comment