Voting is supposed to be a simple activity, but for citizens who have disabilities, even the simplest activities can be a challenge. Voting is always a challenge to me, but when I moved to Lebanon and voted for the first time in the basement of a church, it was a story that I will never forget.

I was moving to a new community where I had never voted before. Voting was in the hall at the bottom of a Catholic Church, and I didn’t even know how to get into the building. A campaign supporter pointed in the direction of the ramp around the back. I waited at the top of the ramp for almost twenty minutes until a gentleman walked by, and I asked him to open the door for me. Once he had opened the door, I asked him where I should go to vote. He told me there was an elevator to take to the basement, where voting was. I got inside and found the elevator. There was a sign that said I needed a key to run it. I had never been to this church before, so I didn’t have the key or any idea where to get one. Once I got into the building, I couldn’t get out. There wasn’t enough room for me to turn around, and the door was to heavy for me to open, so I started yelling, “I just wanted to vote and now I am stuck in a little hallway.”

Finally, this very large man heard me and found someone with a key for the elevator. The slot for the key was way over my head, so I found myself in a phone booth sized elevator with a very large gentleman trying to figure out how to get the elevator running. We finally figured it out and went downstairs. At least an hour had passed since I had entered the building.

Registration went well. Everyone was very excited to see me, and I explained that I had just moved to Lebanon a few months before. They all wanted me to try out their brand new handicapped accessible voting booth. It was painted very nicely with the universal symbol on the side. I thought the booth looked a lot smaller than the other ones, and although I was very nervous, I didn’t say anything because everyone was so excited for me to try it out. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to fit in it at all.

Before I go on any further with this story, I need you to know that not only was there voting activity being conducted, but also on the other side of the hall there was a church supper going on, and the priest was getting ready to bless the meal.

I entered the ‘handicapped accessible’ voting booth. The shelf that you write on was very low, and my control for my wheelchair got stuck underneath. I did not have time to shut off my chair before the voting booth and me were spinning out of control. I started to scream things that were far from appropriate to scream in a church. People were jumping out of my way, tables were getting hit and papers were flying everywhere. I felt like I was in a war zone. The voting booth split into three pieces, and there I sat in the middle of the wreckage with tears in my eyes from total embarrassment, as the whole place roared with laughter.

I had to go and sit at a table to vote. I had been there for nearly two hours and I hadn’t even voted yet. Shortly after my disaster, my husband, who also used a wheelchair, came in and asked why the place looked like a war zone. I told him that I was only trying to vote. Of course he had no trouble getting in the building, because I had already informed someone that he was coming.

I lived in that community for seven years after this experience, and the day Kathy Bates tried to vote was a joke that went on for the entire seven years, especially during voting season. People would stop me in the supermarket and ask me what time I was voting that year- always adding, with a smile, that they wanted to get there before me.

I always vote in my community and not with an absentee ballot, because I love sharing my political views with my neighbors. I like having others see me practicing my civil rights. This story is really funny when I retell it, but it was totally embarrassing at the time. It illustrates perfectly how difficult it is to participate in community activities for people who have disabilities, even activities that seem simple like voting.