[CT-NFB] Fillable Application for an Absentee Ballot (Including for an Accessible Absentee Ballot) - For Windows Only

[Phillip Magalnick]

Nathaniel,
Many thanks for this timely update and reminder. I appreciate your recognition that so many people contributed to our mutual goal for accessible voting. National has always been supportive with respect to this issue, as I personally participated in many leadership calls addressing this topic throughout the winter. On April 20, Luanne Blake facilitated a phenomenal and informative meeting covering all aspects of this topic. With this presentation, She included both a sample letter for the SOS and an accessible voting tool kit. Upon receiving these documents, I immediately contacted and forwarded the information to the SOS, the Attorney General, and my Connecticut local Senator and Representative. Simultaneously, i   disseminated The information to all affiliate leaders. I know that many of our chapter members made phone calls Advocadvocating for   this important issue. Additionally, Honorata and I maintained a dialogue with Congressman Jim Himes,who  similarly personally contacted the SOS. Unfortunately, as we all know, it took the threat of litigation to get the needle moving.
From the beginning, your commitment to this issue was unwavering, and personally much appreciated. It was a complete team effort. I do also want to acknowledge Mary Silverberg for her tireless devotion to this issue, even before our last minute push.

 She was instrumental in bringing this topic to the rehab Council for their consideration to take action.

In solidarity,
Phil 


P.A. Magalnick,JP
203-912-5783
Justice of the Peace, CT
President, National Federation of the Blind-SWCT Chapter
1st VP, National Federation of the Blind-CT Affiliate
Vice-Chair, Stamford Committee on Accessibility



> On Oct 6, 2020, at 8:27 PM, Nathanael T. Wales via CT-NFB <ct-nfb at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> 
> Fellow NFB of Connecticut Members and Friends,
>  
> As you may well know, the National Federation of the Blind of Connecticut with outstanding support from our national leaders is working to make absentee voting fully nonvisually accessible.  We still have a ways to go, but here is some progress.
>  
> The Secretary of the State has agreed to e-mail to any print disabled voter an accessible PDF absentee ballot.  The technical design is not there yet and is a work actively in progress.  And so is a fully accessible application for such a ballot.  But the Secretary of the State has gotten it to the point that if you have a Windows PC you can fill out their form accessibly.  I did it using JAWS.  Please use the attached form. Unfortunately, this form does not work with Voiceover on an IPhone or IPad, and we are advocating with the state on this specific issue still.  I was able to submit this to my town clerk, and she accepted it.
>  
> If you submit this form by typing your name and the date in the signature and date blocks and choose to e-mail the file, please ensure that your town clerk accepts it in writing and agrees to send you an accessible absentee ballot by e-mail.  If you don’t get a confirmation in a couple of days, also print and send this application by regular mail or call your town clerk to arrange its delivery.  The deadline to apply for an absentee ballot is fast approaching, so we want to get this to anyone who can use it to expedite things for some of us.
>  
> We continue to work on making voting by absentee ballot fully accessible to all blind people in Connecticut.  Many thanks to so many of you, and I hope this may be a first if only partial fruit of our hard work.
>  
> Best,
> Nathanael Wales
>  
> <ADA_ED-3 Rev 20 Final EN5_V2.pdf>
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