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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Fellow NFB Members and Blind, Print Disabled, or Otherwise Disabled Voters Similarly Concerned:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>As you can’t help knowing by now, the National Federation of the Blind and our NFB of Connecticut affiliate have been advocating as strongly as possible to make the absentee ballots, available now to every voter for the August 11 primary and the November 3 general election, also accessible to us so that we can vote those ballots on our own, privately and independently. Scott LaBarre, a member of the NFB National Board of Directors, looked at our State of Connecticut website and has a temporary suggestion of how we could do so for the August 11 primary as we advocate for a complete and proper system for the general election. I’ve already begun the process of requesting this from my town registrar of voters. If you are eligible to participate in the August 11 primary (and I realize that some, for example Independents in Stamford, are not), Maryanne, Scott, and I encourage you to consider this temporary suggestion.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Perhaps I was confused at the National Convention caucus, but Connecticut DOES send absentee ballots to military members overseas electronically—by e-mail. It isn’t clear how they return them (maybe they still have to print and mail them), but the electronic delivery IS done. </span><span style='color:#1F497D'>Specifically from </span><span style='color:#1F497D'>the state’s website:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal>https://portal.ct.gov/SOTS/Election-Services/Election-Services/Military-and-Overseas-Citizens-Ballot-Information<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>W</span>e suggest that voters who are eligible and want to vote in the August 11 primary could request the same sort of ballot that they are sending to overseas military members<span style='color:#1F497D'>. It is probably best to request this from your town registrar; the registrar may end up referring you to the town or city clerk</span>. You should request that t<span style='color:#1F497D'>he ballot</span> be delivered by e-mail. You should state that <span style='color:#1F497D'>you</span> are requesting an absentee ballot in this format and delivered this way as a reasonable accommodation, under Title II of the Americans With Disabilities Act, to your disability which prevents you from privately and independently completing a print-on-paper absentee ballot. Further, you should state that you are requesting this as a temporary accommodation until the State has in place an accessible ballot marking tool which allows for both remote ballot marking as well as remote ballot return. <span style='color:#1F497D'>In my case, </span>I completed and signed the regular absentee ballot application that I got in the mail, and I attach<span style='color:#1F497D'>ed</span> a scanned copy to my e-mail as back-up for my request.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>This </span><span style='color:#1F497D'>isn’t too far off from what we want. I’m not sure if the ballot we’d get e-mailed will be usable with JAWS or whatever, but we won’t know until we ask and can deal with that issue when it comes. (For example, it could always be OCRed, selections marked with “XXX” next to them, and printed and returned.)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Let us—and the list if you wish, too—know how you make out.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>I hope this may increase the number of us able to vote privately, independently, accessibly, and absentee for the August 11 primary. And I’m glad to assist anyone who needs help with this.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Nathanael Wales<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></body></html>