Maggie AstorCompte certifié

Why did it take so long? It was hard to reach people, or even to know who to contact. The Democrats' accommodation request process was only publicized this month. Her caucus location changed 2x. Different locations = different organizers/accommodation needs = back to square 1. 4/

Judy Downs, executive director of the Polk County Democrats, said they had changed many caucus locations so they would be in more accessible facilities, or larger facilities to avoid overcrowding. But she said she understood the problems that caused. 5/

At one point, a precinct official told Meg that she should arrive at her caucus site at 5 (the caucuses don't start until 7) to ensure that she could get one of the "limited" number of chairs. But according to other officials, the doors won't even be open that early. 6/

As for skipping the line, Meg was told she could do that only if she had preregistered. She was also told that the deadline to preregister had passed. 7/

This back-and-forth is all documented in emails that Meg shared with me. 8/

The Iowa Democratic Party has a new, "streamlined" accommodation request form, but it wasn't posted until this month, and it was barely advertised beyond a tweet from the party that said they were excited to offer such a request process "for the first time." 9/

The Republican Party of Iowa lists a phone number and email address to request accommodations, but it also hasn't publicized this. A spokesman told me "the disabilities groups" — meaning outside advocates — were good at getting the information out. 10/

As of Friday, the Iowa Republicans had received ONE accommodation request. The Democrats had received about 160. Iowa has an estimated 300,000 registered voters with disabilities. 11/