WHEREAS, the Department is authorized under 28 C.F.R. Part 35, Subpart F, to determine the City's compliance with title II of the ADA and the
Department's title II implementing regulation, to issue findings, and, where appropriate, to negotiate and secure voluntary compliance agreements. Furthermore,
the Attorney General is authorized, under 42 U.S.C. § 12133, to bring a civil action enforcing title II of the ADA should the Department fail to secure voluntary
compliance pursuant to Subpart F;
WHEREAS, the City denies all of the Department's allegations.
TERMS OF SETTLEMENT
1. This Agreement is conditioned on approval of the settlement agreement entered into as of April 16, 2009 (the "Kerrigan Settlement"), between the parties to
the litigation captioned, or otherwise referred to, as Kerrigan, et al. v. The City of Philadelphia, et al., C.A. No. 07-00687 (E.D. Pa.) ("Litigation"), which was
filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on February 21, 2007. A copy of the Kerrigan Settlement is attached as
Attachment 1 and is incorporated by specific reference.
Obligations of the City of Philadelphia
2. Accessible polling places are and shall be the cornerstone of the City's voting accessibility program. The City has an obligation to provide an accessible
voting program under federal law. As part of the Kerrigan Settlement, the City and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania are financially responsible for the
survey and evaluation work conducted by a Private Third Party (selected by the Kerrigan Magistrate Judge), as provided for in Paragraph I in the Kerrigan
Settlement. The Kerrigan Private Third Party will evaluate one-half of the polling places listed on Attachment 2.
3. The City shall maintain in operable working condition on election day those features of facilities and equipment that are required to make polling places
temporarily accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities, excluding isolated or temporary interruptions in service or access due to maintenance or
repairs, which are not prohibited.
4. The City will continue to provide access, through the application process established by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, to the Alternative Ballot for all
persons with disabilities, who are assigned to vote at a polling place that has not been designated as fully accessible under the terms of this Agreement For the
May 2009 Primary Election, all polling place sites, except for those sites identified by the Department as accessible in Attachment 3 to this Agreement, will
be considered inaccessible for purposes of the Alternative Ballot procedures.
5. Beginning with the May 2009 election, 30 days before the election, the City will notify the appropriate person for each polling place that if parking is
provided at the polling place location, then a van-accessible space must be provided temporarily on election day, through the use of traffic cones and
appropriate signage, or in some other manner.
6. Throughout the life of this Agreement, the City will make reasonable efforts to maintain equipment such as ramps used to ensure the accessibility of polling
places.
Create PDF in your applications with the Pdfcrowd HTML to PDF API
PDFCROWD