Monday was the first time in Irvin Osbourne's adult life that he wasn't able to vote in an election. But it wasn't because he didn't try.
Osbourne, who recently had some toes and part of his foot removed because of gangrene, is using a motorized scooter to get around until his wounds heal.
The 63-year-old planned to drive the scooter from his apartment building on Paris St. to his local polling station, located at St. Theresa's Catholic School on Walford Rd.
Unfortunately, Greater Sudbury had received a six-inch blanket of snow on Friday night, and most of it hadn't melted by Monday morning.
Osbourne struggled to drive the scooter down the sidewalk, where people had pushed snow they had cleared from their driveways.
But the real problem came when he reached the school and realized there was too much snow and slush in the parking lot to reach the wheelchair ramp.
“I couldn't get there because my scooter does not go through snow. It's not a tractor, it's a scooter.”
Osbourne says the city should choose its polling locations more carefully and make sure they are accessible to disabled people.
“Maybe they should even rent a part of a mall or something that is more accessible.”
The city puts a lot of effort into making sure disabled citizens are able to access polling stations on election day, said Caroline Hallsworth, the city's executive director of administrative services.
Every polling station must have a wheelchair ramp, and disabled citizens are encouraged to go to advanced polls so they can receive more attention.
Because buildings that don't necessarily belong to the city are used as polling stations, responsibility for snow clearing sometimes lies with other organizations.
In the case of St. Theresa's School, the Sudbury Catholic District School Board was supposed to make sure the parking lot and wheelchair ramp were free of snow.
“All I can do is apologize, I guess,” said Hugh Lee, the superintendent of business at the school board.
“We manage our snow plowing on the limited budget we have. We probably didn't get that section done, and we probably should have for the election. In terms of election night, we'll have to be more sensitive to that in the future.”
James Young, who uses a cane to get around because he broke his foot, did manage to vote Monday. But he's not thrilled about the standard of accessibility at his Tom Davies Square polling station.
“I called the election office two weeks ago to see if ramps would be open so that disabled voters could go right up to the civic square doors. They said they would be. They weren't.”
He also encountered problems when he reached the poll.
“There were no chairs available at the different ward booths where you get your ballots. I'm standing there with a cane while they were trying to find me on the voters' list,” he said.
“I asked 'Can I have a chair to sit down with while I'm waiting because it's kind of painful?' They finally got me a chair. When I got my ballot, there was no chair at the booth to do my vote.”
After he filled out his ballot, he waited for several minutes to have his ballot electronically counted because the election worker “was yakking away to another person.”
“There is a complete incompetence with regards to handling disabled voters,” he said. “I'd give them a zero out of 10.”
Hallsworth said Tom Davies Square is fully accessible to disabled people, with several ramps located throughout the building.
“In terms of seating, there is seating available outside of the committee rooms used for voting,” she said. “If people do need a chair inside the poll, we go and get them one. We certainly do everything we can to accommodate voter needs.”
As for the excessive chatting of the election workers, they are trained, and are supposed to reflect “the kind of environment we wish to create in our polls,” said Hallsworth.