ACCESSIBILITY OF POLLING PLACE TO THE ELDERLY AND PERSONS WITH PHYSICAL DISABILITIES

(a) Each polling place shall be accessible to and usable by the elderly and persons with physical disabilities. To be considered accessible, a polling place must meet the standards established under Article 9102, Revised Statutes, including the following standards: (1) the polling place must be on the ground-level floor or be accessible from the ground-level floor by an elevator with doors that provide an opening of at least 36 inches in width; (2) doors, entrances, and exits used to enter or leave the polling place must have a minimum width of 32 inches; (3) any curb adjacent to the main entrance to a polling place must have curb cuts or temporary nonslip ramps; (4) any stairs necessary to enter or leave the polling place must have a handrail on each side of the stairs and a nonslip ramp; and (5) the polling place may not have a barrier that impedes the path of a person with physical disabilities to the voting station. (b) The commissioners court shall provide a polling place that complies with Subsection (a) in each county election precinct. The site shall be made available for use as a polling place on every day that an election may be held within the precinct by any authority that holds elections. The commissioners court may make expenditures from either the general fund or the permanent improvement fund to bring an existing county-owned site into compliance with Subsection (a). (c) The governing body of each political subdivision that holds elections shall cooperate with the commissioners court in its respective county in implementing this section and is subject to the same requirements for compliance as prescribed by Subsection (b). If the authority holding an election rejects a county-designated polling place that is available and chooses to use a different site of its own designation, it shall provide a polling place that complies with Subsection (a) at its own expense. A political party that is holding a primary election may not reject an available county-designated polling place without the prior consent of the secretary of state.