Lawsuit challenges polling place near Bard

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON,

N.Y. » Bard College President Leon Botstein and student voting advocates have joined a lawsuit against the Dutchess County Board of Elections that seeks to have a polling place closer to the college than the Episcopal Church of St. John the Evangelist.

The church, at 1114 River Road in Red Hook, is about 1½ miles south of the center of the Bard campus.

The lawsuit was filed in state Supreme Court in Poughkeepsie by the Andrew

Goodman Foundation, the student group Election@Bard, student Sadia Saba, Botstein and Bard Vice President for Student Affairs Erin Cannan.

A press release from the Goodman Foundation says the church “is inaccessible by public transportation, in clear violation of New York State Election Law, which requires that polling places are situated on public transit routes.”

“The current polling location is a 3-mile round trip from the Bard campus on an unsafe route that lacks sidewalks and adequate street lighting,” the release states. “The route creates a significant hardship for voters with disabilities, and the majority of students who don’t have cars.”

The foundation says the polling site is not compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act, and that the church is undergoing renovations and is too small to comply with COVID-related social distancing needs.

The plaintiffs says that, because of COVID guidelines, the church will not be able to accommodate six poll workers, a handicapped-accessible ballot marking device, an optical scanner for completed ballots, a registration table and room for those waiting to vote.

The plaintiffs say there should be a polling place on the Bard campus. They say the Multi-Purpose Room at the college is about 2,260 square feet, “over three times the size of the church.”

Dutchess County Elections Commissioners Erik Haight and Elizabeth Soto could not be reached for comment Friday.