[Massachusetts-NFB] Democracy Live Zoom meeting to discuss H-3577 regarding equal access to voting

[sharawinton at gmail.com]

Hello Federation Family and Friends,

This Thursday, August 24  at 7PM, we will be holding an information and
discussion about an upcoming hearing regarding an amendment to the current
access to voting for our community. Charlie Kinnune from Democracy Live
Will join us to help us understand the importance of supporting this
legislation. I have also invited some people from our National office of the
NFB.   We will discuss if and why we might want to  support and promote
H-3577. 

 

This amendment  Provides uniformity.   H-3577 is sponsored by Sean Garballey

 

https://malegislature.gov/Bills/193/HD2757

 

Reasons to  consider supporting  and promoting H-3577:

 

Provides uniformity. Codifies the existing practice in Massachusetts. This
bill would ensure all voters will continue to receive the same ballot as all
voters in a polling place.  

Provides transparency and trust. New systems provide what they call
"separate but equal" access. With these systems, voters with disabilities
use a system that produces a receipt with a barcode as the official ballot.
It looks different from other ballots in the polling place and the barcode
is tabulated. It's not human readable. 

The greater disability community supports this bill .

 

Here is the H-3577 text:

Section 44 of chapter 54 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2020
Official Edition, is hereby amended by adding the following paragraph:-

Ballots shall be uniform in size, material and content for all voters in a
polling place, regardless of whether the ballot is voted on a ballot-marking
device or directly on a paper ballot. Ballots shall be tabulated directly
from the voter-marked selections and not from a barcode, QR code or other
representation not marked by the voter, either on a ballot-marking device or
directly on paper.

 

The hearing date is set for September 19 at 1PM. At this time, we are not
sure of the location, but we will publicize that as soon as we know. 

 

Our discussion will be held Thursday night, August via Zoom. We will begin
at 7PM. Some members of ACB, will be joining us. I have also invited people
from our National office.

Here is the Zoom information: 

 https://nfb-org.zoom.us/j/9798687370
<https://www.google.com/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Fnfb-org.zoom.us%2Fj%2F9798687370
&sa=D&source=calendar&usd=2&usg=AOvVaw3Z8kwltvzYhYGFyABjLPNZ> 

Meeting ID: 979 868 7370

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Please let me know if you have any questions or would like more information.
Otherwise, see you this Thursday, August 24 at 7PM. 

 

At Your Service, 

 

 

Shara Winton

President, National Federation of the Blind of Massachusetts

617-304-0347

 

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