Some early voters deal with persistent accessibility issues at Macon’s new election office

Reality Check is a Telegraph series digging deeper into key issues and focusing on accountability. Have a suggestion for a future story? Email mynews@macon.com.

Patricia Kitchens lugs along a bulky oxygen tank attached to her walker every day due to a muscle-weakening disease.

On Wednesday, the 78-year-old cast her absentee ballot at Macon Mall after multiple breaks to sit down and catch her breath.

“It’s a heavy thing to be carrying around with you through the mall,” Patricia Kitchens said. “I hate to be complaining, but this walk is a little much for us older people, especially someone like myself, to come and vote here.”

The NAACP’s Macon-Bibb County chapter, members of the county election board and voters like Patricia Kitchens have expressed multiple concerns over the past year about accessibility issues at Macon Mall, the new home to Macon-Bibb County’s Board of Elections and one of only three early voting locations in Bibb County.

The election board discussed plans in May 2023, and again in February 2024, to solve accessibility problems raised. Board members discussed implementing functional sliding glass doors, indoor-outdoor transportation vehicles, and improved signs to point people in the right direction through the mall.

Other than a few sliding glass doors around the mall, including one that was inoperable last week, no progress has been made.

“It’s gone too far,” Gwenette Westbrooks, head of the NAACP local chapter, said. “The (election) board itself told us that they were going to work on all these issues, but no, they haven’t.”

Long walk to vote with no transportation

The board of elections office, inside the west end of Macon Mall, is one of three early voting sites. If a person comes in through the east end by the mall’s food hall entrance – near Eisenhower Parkway – they have to walk to the opposite side of the mall to vote. Even if someone comes in through the mall entrance closest to the voting space – near Mercer University Drive – the nearest accessible parking spot is about 175 yards from the Board of Elections office.

The county’s only absentee ballot drop box is also located at the mall. The number of receptacles per county depends on its population size, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Patricia Kitchens and her daughter Michelle Kitchens waited for the nearest accessible parking spot to open up, which they argued wasn’t near the entrance at all.

“I had to rest a couple of times,” Patricia Kitchens said, and paused to catch her breath. “I have a muscle-weakening disease that’s real rare so it was a challenge. My opinion is that they should let go of some of those reserved spots that are just sitting out there.” She pointed toward two parking spaces occupied by two black Chevrolets parked directly in front of the curb by the entrance nearest to the elections office.

There is a designated line for voters 75 and older, which is about half as long as the regular line. However, both lines only begin at the entrance to the elections office area. It does not shorten the distance from the mall entrance to the elections board office.

During an initial tour of the Board of Elections office in May 2023, local architect Gene Dunwody posed an idea to use indoor vehicles to transport voters through the mall. However, Elections Supervisor Thomas Gillon told The Telegraph it wouldn’t be feasible.

“We discussed that, having them in the mall, but we decided that it would be more of a liability than an advantage,” Gillon said. “Golf carts sound good on paper, potentially something for outside use to get them to the door, but I don’t think there’s a way of doing anything like that,” Gillon said.

Westbrooks said other local establishments, like the Atrium Health Amphitheater, use golf carts to transport disabled patrons and the elections office should too. But Chris Floore, a spokesperson for Macon-Bibb County, said golf carts are not used at the amphitheater to transport patrons.

Macon Mall used to have escalators and glass elevators, but now, the nearest way to switch floors is via a staircase. Georgia law requires shopping malls to offer “an accessible route to all floors.”

Could more signs help the issue?

It’s difficult to park as near as possible to the elections office because there are few signs showing people where to vote from outside the mall. There are about seven red signs with an arrow that say “vote here” along the south perimeter of the mall by Eisenhower Parkway. There are no other signs posted on the mall doors, walls or windows.

There is a sign about 3-by-8 feet long posted outside between the office and the county courthouse annex entrance, that says “Macon-Bibb County Board of Elections Early Voting Here.” But it does not point to either entrance door.

Westbrooks said there aren’t enough signs telling people where to go, which misleads voters who get in through the east or south sides of the mall.

“It makes it seem like the voting spot would be right there when you drive in, but it’s not,” Westbrooks said.

Lack of functional automatic doors

While there is an automatic sliding glass door at the mall entrance nearest to the elections office, it was out of service as of May 8.

“If that proves to be an issue, maybe we can talk to the mall management, maybe we can get some relief, at least for that entrance,” Gillons said, referring to the doors nearest to the voting place.

“We are keeping our attorneys updated on basically what’s going on, and they’ll make the decision on what will actually happen,” Westbrooks said, regarding accessibility concerns.

When The Telegraph asked Gillon what voters with mobility challenges should do if they don’t feel comfortable voting at Macon Mall, he recommended to voice concerns to the elections board or visit the other two early voting satellite locations in downtown Macon – Theron Ussery Recreation Center on Wimbish Road, and Elaine Lucas Senior Center on Willie Smokie Glover Drive.

Michelle Kitchens accompanied her mother at the Macon Mall voting site on May 8. They drove about 8 miles from their home in Lizella to the Macon Mall polling site – about a 13-minute drive. The other two “more accessible” polling sites would’ve been about twice the distance.

“There is no need of my having to drive from Lizella to the other side of Macon to go vote. It’s just awful,” Patricia Kitchens said.