Anderson, SC (WLTX) - Sandy Hanebrink said she waited outside of her polling place in Five Forks for 45 minutes in an attempt to get curbside voting before anyone acknowledged she was there.
She waited so long she resorted to calling the Anderson County Sheriff's Office to get someone to help her.
She said she tried to get others to flag down poll workers and tried to call the county's election hotlines before resorting to making a non-emergency call to authorities.
Hanebrink has been voting in the area, south of the city of Anderson, since 1999 and said the current polling place is not up to the standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
"There's no ADA parking, there's no ADA way into the building and the alternative was curbside voting. And they weren't providing it," she said. "I shouldn't have to do curbside. I'd have been happy to park and get out with everybody else. That's part of the experience. I shouldn't have to ask other voters to go inside and get poll workers to help me."
Laura Griffin, Anderson County voter service supervisor, said poll officials are supposed to check the curbside voting spots every 15 minutes. Hanebrink should not have had to wait longer than that to have been contacted by poll workers, Griffin said.
Hanebrink said she saw two voters ahead of her in the crowded parking lot with placards indicating a disability.
The first voter was there before her and waited at least 45 minutes before being able to vote. The other voter, a man in a truck, appeared to throw his hands up as if frustrated and he drove away without voting, Hanebrink said.
That's around the time she said she called 911.
She said her name was the second on the list of curbside voters.
Poll manager Michael Bratcher said he was not aware there were any curbside voters waiting outside and the polling location did not have enough poll workers to handle curbside voting and voting in the polling location.
He said the curbside voters were taken care of after workers learned they were outside. Bratcher confirmed that an Anderson County Sheriff's Office deputy had been contacted.
Katy Smith, director of Anderson County's Board of Voter Registration and Elections, did not respond to a request for comment.
Hanebrink had paralysis of her legs as a young adult and has competed in the Paralympics across the globe.
Hanebrink said getting out of her car into grass or gravel is not an option for her.
There is a small paved access road outside of the small building where polling happens. Cars park on either side of the building and are in either grass or gravel.
Hanebrink said she had similar issues during the 2016 election and had reported what she believes to be violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act to county elections officials at the time.
She said there had been no apparent accommodations made, aside from a floor mat being placed on the grass.
"I have a right to participate in all aspects of American society," Hanebrink said. "It's not just a building code, it's a civil right."
