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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72" style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>Good Evening:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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!<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>Scott Van Gorp, President<br>National Federation of the Blind of Iowa<br>Phone: 515-720-5282<br></span><a href="mailto:svangorp@nfbi.org">Email</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.nfbi.org/"><i><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>Website</span></i></a><i><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'> <br></span></i><a href="https://www.facebook.com/National-Federation-Of-the-Blind-Of-Iowa-372681823082570/posts"><i><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>Facebook</span></i></a><i><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'> <br></span></i><a href="https://twitter.com/nfb_iowa"><i><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>Twitter</span></i></a><i><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'> <br>Live the life you want.<br></span></i><br>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.<o:p></o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b>From:</b> DSM-Iowa <dsm-iowa-bounces@nfbnet.org> <b>On Behalf Of </b>Mary McGee via DSM-Iowa<br><b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, October 6, 2020 12:49 PM<br><b>To:</b> 'Des Moines Chapter List, NFB of Iowa' <dsm-iowa@nfbnet.org><br><b>Cc:</b> Mary McGee <mmcatitude@gmail.com><br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [DSM-Iowa] Letters.<o:p></o:p></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Dear (name);<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>You are a member of the Iowa Legislative Council, and that is why I write. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>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. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>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. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>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. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>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. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Sincerely,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Mary L. McGee<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>201 Locust, #341<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Des Moines IA 50309<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>(515) 280-1281<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>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. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>I know I’m not on the Committee, but I’ll still help any way I can. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Mary McGee<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>