[DSM-Iowa] Letters.

Wed Oct 7 02:10:45 UTC 2020

Good Evening:

This is a great example of advocacy in action. Thank you Mary for sending
this. We have been informed that electronic and social media ads are being
put together, so our work is far from over!

Scott Van Gorp, President
National Federation of the Blind of Iowa
Phone: 515-720-5282
Email <mailto:svangorp at nfbi.org> 

 <http://www.nfbi.org/> Website 

<https://www.facebook.com/National-Federation-Of-the-Blind-Of-Iowa-372681823
082570/posts> Facebook 
 <https://twitter.com/nfb_iowa> Twitter 
Live the life you want.

The National Federation of the Blind of Iowa is a community of members and
friends who believe in the hopes and dreams of the nation's blind. Every day
we work together to help blind people live the lives they want.

From: DSM-Iowa <dsm-iowa-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Mary McGee via
DSM-Iowa
Sent: Tuesday, October 6, 2020 12:49 PM
To: 'Des Moines Chapter List, NFB of Iowa' <dsm-iowa at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Mary McGee <mmcatitude at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [DSM-Iowa] Letters.

This is the letter I sent to all those people about voting access; I
elaborated on Michael's fine thought a bit.  Feel free to use this if you
want. 

Dear (name);

You are a member of the Iowa Legislative Council, and that is why I write.  

I remember the election of 2000 with its hanging, pregnant, and dimpled
chads, and other discrepancies that revealed the need for updated election
laws. As a result of these threats to accurate and fair elections, the Help
America Vote Act became law.  For the first time in history it provided
people who are blind or who had low vision the right to vote a secret
ballot.  Specifications were laid out regarding the design of a properly
accessible voting machine which provided a way for people who are blind,
have low vision, or have some other print disability, to cast our own
private ballots.  I, as a person with very low vision, was overjoyed.  

It is now 2020, and we live with the new culture of Covid 19.  Because of
the  risk, some people are hesitant about going to a public polling place
and contracting the virus.  Many people in the high-risk of the virus are
blind or have another print disability and their only choice in Iowa is to
cast an absentee ballot, an action that requires the assistance of a sighted
person, thereby denying them the right to private and independent voting.
We are disenfranchised in Iowa again.  Even though the Help America Vote
Act, Title II of the Americans With Disabilities Act, and Section 504 of the
Rehabilitation Act are very specific about not discriminating against people
with disabilities, we find ourselves having to fight a needless battle once
again.  The 24-member Legislative Council must vote on a "pilot" ballot
marking tool for those of us who need to use an absentee ballot which we can
mark independently.  This has not happened to date; therefore, Iowa is in
violation of Federal law.  

Fundamentally, this is a choice issue; people like me who have print
disabilities are being denied the same number of voting choices as others.
Arguably, Iowa is violating the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution,
since this deprivation of civil rights is done "under color of state law."
Technology is available to correct this inequity.  

Please grant us our independent right to vote a secret absentee ballot, if
that is what we choose to do.  If I can be of any further assistance, please
contact me.  

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Mary L. McGee

201 Locust, #341

Des Moines  IA  50309

(515) 280-1281

I also wish to say that I sent some information to Sen. Claire Celsi
yesterday per her request.  I offered to help work on this matter with her,
as I have in these letters.  

I know I'm not on the Committee, but I'll still help any way I can. 

Mary McGee

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