City officials announced Thursday that by September all New York City polling sites will be equipped with new voting devices that are accessible to the disabled. But some disabled New Yorkers say that the machines are only part of the problem. NY1's Susan Jhun filed the following report.

From her wheelchair, Clara Bailon has trouble reaching the doorknob to her bedroom, so imagine what it's like trying to vote. It's next to impossible.

"The voting booths are real high, even now sitting in this wheelchair I cannot reach them, much less read them," said Bailon.

As a result, Bailon votes by absentee ballot. She'd prefer to vote at her local poll site, but even with help from someone who can reach the levers, she wouldn't be able to see her vote cast.

"I wanna do it myself, with my own two eyes," she said.

According to Aaron Belisle at the Center for Independence of the Disabled, Bailon is one of thousands of disabled New Yorkers who would like to cast their ballot in person, but don't.

"They don't even go out to vote because they know that their local poll site is inaccessible," said Belisle.

According to Belisle's group, CIDNY, two-thirds of the polling sites it's surveyed since 2003 have not been accessible to the disabled. Now that the Board of Elections has agreed to equip all the city's polling sites by November with new voting devices that disabled voters can use, Belisle hopes they will also work to improve the accessibility of the poll locations, as well.

"People are still going to have trouble getting through the doors -- because of locked doors, lack of signs, problem ramps," he said.

NY1 reached out to the Board of Elections and they released the following statement: "The Board of Elections in the City of New York...committed to ensuring that every voter can exercise his or her right to vote next Tuesday in accordance with the requirements of New York State Election Law."

For Tuesday's primary, only one location per borough will have machines the disabled can use independently. They will be located at:

200 Varick Street in Manhattan

345 Adams Street in Brooklyn

1780 Grand Concourse in the Bronx

126-06 Queens Boulevard in Queens

1 Edgewater Plaza on Staten Island.

For directions to these sites or for more information, go to the New York City Board of Elections website at www.vote.nyc.ny.us or call 866-VOTE-NYC.

- Susan Jhun

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