[gui-talk] access at the ballot box

[Lloyd Rasmussen]

Every polling place in the nation is supposed to have at least one machine
that is non-visually accessible.  You shouldn't need to bring headphones.
One of the tricky parts is the the election judges and other poll workers
tend to be seniors.  They are given a bunch of training at the last minute,
and nobody remembers how to get the accessible voting machine working on the
first try.  They usually get it going eventually, but it takes more time
than it should. And just because they succeeded in running it during the
primary doesn't necessarily mean they will remember how to do it for
Election Day. 



Lloyd Rasmussen, Kensington, Maryland
Home:  http://lras.home.sprynet.com
Work:  http://www.loc.gov/nls
 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of tribble
> Sent: Friday, October 31, 2008 9:59 PM
> To: Multiple recipients of NFBnet GUI-TALK Mailing List
> Subject: [gui-talk] access at the ballot box
> 
> Hi all --
> I just went to our county website and read the sample ballot they posted
> on
> the net, first in pdf format, then in html.
> I had a hard time making sense of either. The formatting was lost to me
> and
> of course the levers or buttons our whatever weren't labeled.
> Does anyone have a solution to resolve this problem?
> I am told that the voting process is fully accessible and that I will
> hopefully be able to bring a set of headphones and listen to the
> instructions -- but I wanted to research the candidates I don't know
> before
> voting on this ballot.
> 
> What do other people do during elections? I am hoping, probably in vain,
> that the poll will indeed have an accessible voting machine, and that I
> won't need sighted assistance. I like privacy furing voting.
> 
> Anyway, just a rant and a question to others in the blind community.  This
> will be the first time I vote in Minnesota.
> 
> Happy halloween -- don't let the goblins eat all the candy... send it to
> me.
> I dressed up as a Katrina survivor with a bunch of sparkling mardi gras
> beads around my neck and a crawfish hat.  No one said anything so I took
> it
> off -- then they were really scared...*snicker*
> --le
>