[IL-Talk] Call to Action on Senate bill S. 1

[davant1958 at gmail.com]

Hello all,

The following message comes from John Pare n our national office. Please see
below and act now. Thank you.

 

 

"On March 17, 2021, the Senate introduced S. 1, the For the People Act. We
expect the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration to hold a markup for
this bill later this month. S. 1 does not address the lack of a secret
ballot resulting from a very small number of blind voters using an
accessible ballot-marking device (BMD) or the need for vote-by-mail ballots
to adhere to the Help America Vote Act and the Americans with Disabilities
Act. President Riccobono has written a letter to Senators Klobuchar and
Merkley urging that S. 1 be amended. His letter can be found at
https://nfb.org/programs-services/advocacy/policy-statements/letter-senators
-klobuchar-and-merkley-regarding-s-1. 

 

Please call or write your two senators and urge them to support the two
amendments contained in this letter. These two amendments would:

 

1. Increase the number of ballot-marking devices in each polling place from
one to two and require poll workers to actively and specifically offer the
ballot-marking devices to voters with and without disabilities. 

2. Require that states adhere to the requirements of the Help America Vote
Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act with regard to vote-by-mail.

 

When you call or email your senators you might say something like:

 

"Hello, my name is [YOUR NAME], and I am a constituent of [SENATOR NAME]. I
live in [CITY, STATE]. I would like to urge [SENATOR NAME] to propose two
amendments to S. 1 that would protect blind voters' rights to a private and
independent ballot. The first amendment would increase the number of
ballot-marking devices in each polling place from one to two and require
poll workers to actively and specifically offer the ballot-marking devices
to voters with and without disabilities. The second amendment would require
states to adhere to the requirements of the Help America Vote Act and the
Americans with Disabilities Act with regard to vote-by-mail. Together, these
two amendments will ensure that blind Americans are able to vote and that
our ballots will be indistinguishable from others."

 

 

 

 

Denise Avant, ESQ

1st Vice President

National Federation of the Blind of Illinois

For more information about NFBI,

Go to www.nfbofillinois.org