Hunter disability advocate David Belcher has slammed the lack of access at two Newcastle voting centres as "completely unacceptable".
The Community Disability Alliance Hunter organiser said disability access at the Newcastle CBD and Toronto pre-poll centres was a "complete shemozzle".
Newcastle MP Sharon Claydon has complained to the Australian Electoral Commission after people in wheelchairs were forced to vote on the street outside the CBD's only pre-poll centre.
The Newcastle Herald reported on Monday about access at the Toronto Amateur Sailing Club pre-poll centre, where voter Nick Ryder said: "You have to be a mountain goat to get up to it."
The AEC said on Tuesday that it had to secure 8000 pre-poll venues across Australia at short notice and it was not practical to have disability access at all of them.
Staff in Newcastle had been "diligent in arranging for assisted access through a more accessible entrance at the rear of the venue for voters who indicated that was their preference".
"Assistance to vote outside of the venue is an option which staff have been providing," a spokesperson said.
The AEC said pre-poll at Charlestown and Maryland had disability access and urged voters to check the information on its website.
Mr Belcher called the AEC response "disappointing".
"People with a disability have to fight every day to be treated like citizens, and here the most significant act of being a citizen has this hurdle in front of it," he said.
Ms Claydon posted a photograph on Twitter on Monday showing voters in wheelchairs filling out ballots on the footpath in King Street.
"Whilst I acknowledge that the AEC officers are doing their very best in a challenging situation, people living with disability should not have additional obstacles when voting," Ms Claydon's complaint to the AEC says.
"They should not be made to sit outside in front of passing traffic, other voters and the general public when exercising their democratic right."
"In Newcastle, as you've pointed out the King St polling place doesn't have additional accessibility options. In the area, accessible early voting centres are located in Charlestown and Maryland."
Ms Claydon pointed out that the King Street pre-poll centre was "around the corner" from a National Disability Insurance Scheme office, the Department of Veterans Affairs and Services NSW and "surrounded by disability service providers ... so little wonder lots of people with disabilities trying to vote here".
"PS Maryland & Charlestown are not conveniently close," she wrote.
The spokesperson said "ideally" the AEC would be able to secure 8000 venues across Australia with full access for everyone, but "with the scale and complexity of the temporary operation we run it's just not possible in all locations".
The AEC said all its early voting centres were organised at short notice.
"We have to be ready to run the federal election and secure 8000 voting venues based on an unknown date.
"For the early voting period there is simply not sufficient venues of the required size sitting vacant across Australia, or Newcastle, for the required time period for us to secure for a rolling 10-month period.
"We'd urge people who need particular accessibility requirements to be in place to check the information available."
