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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-1.0in'><b>Subject: Restoring the Secret Ballot to Disabled Voters to Assure Equality in Voting<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b>To: Members of the Maryland General Assembly<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b>From: Members of the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b>Contact: Sharon Maneki, Director of Legislation and Advocacy<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-indent:.5in'><b>National Federation of the Blind of Maryland<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-indent:.5in'><b>9013 Nelson Way<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-indent:.5in'><b>Columbia, MD 21045<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-indent:.5in'><b>Phone: 410-715-9596<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-indent:.5in'><b>Email: <span class=MsoHyperlink><a href="mailto:nfbmd@earthlink.net">nfbmd@earthlink.net</a></span><o:p></o:p></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-indent:.5in'><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b>Date: January 24, 2019<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b>THE PROBLEM</b><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>For most of its history, all voters in Maryland used the same voting system. This situation changed in the 2016 and 2018 elections because the Maryland State Board of Elections (SBE) created two systems of voting: the ExpressVote electronic ballot marking device (BMD), and the paper-based system in which ballots are marked by hand. The SBE has selected the voter-verifiable paper-based solution leased from Election Systems and Software (ES&S) as its BMD. Unfortunately, SBE is limiting the use of this BMD by deploying only one device to each polling place. The SBE is further limiting the use of these BMDs by requiring only two voters per polling place to use the BMD. Many blind and disabled voters are forced to use the ES&S BMDs to cast their ballots because they cannot use the hand marked ballots. The problem for blind and disabled voters is that the BMDs produce paper ballots that are smaller in size and differ in content from the hand marked ballots. Thus, in the 2016 and 2018 elections, ballots cast by blind and disabled voters were segregated and too easily identifiable in the overall collection of ballots. Therefore, ballots cast by blind and disabled voters were no longer secret. Maryland no longer had equality in voting.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='page-break-after:avoid'><b>PROPOSED ACTION</b><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='page-break-after:avoid'>The Maryland General Assembly should enact legislation requiring the SBE to create one voting system for all voters in Maryland when the contract for the ES&S BMDs ends in 2020. The preamble of this legislation should state that there shall be no discrimination on the basis of disability in the voting process. The practice of using segregated ballots must be eliminated. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><b>BACKGROUND<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class=MsoNormal>At the end of the 20<sup>th</sup> century, Maryland began to modernize its voting system. Gradually, Maryland introduced voters to using a touch screen electronic system with all jurisdictions using the same system beginning in the 2004 elections. Voters with disabilities were most pleased because the nonvisual access of this new voting system allowed us to vote secretly and in private for the first time. However, this touch screen system did not produce paper ballot records which would be essential for the purposes of recounts and verification. The SBE was then forced to adopt a new voting system that was capable of producing paper ballot records. This new voting system was first used in the 2016 election. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The state of Maryland was unwilling to spend the money that was needed to purchase enough BMDs for all voters to use in the 2016 elections. This shortage led SBE to deploy only one BMD in each polling place, which forced most voters to mark their ballots by hand. This decision was the beginning of the loss of the secret ballot for blind and disabled voters.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>In the 2016 primary election, candidates whose names appeared on the second or third screens of the BMD threatened legal action, complaining that navigating to these screens was too difficult. To appease these candidates, SBE further limited the use of the BMDs by requiring that only two voters per polling place needed to use them. This minimum limitation forced even more voters to mark their ballots by hand. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Maryland Election Law Article §9-102(f)(1), Annotated Code of Maryland, states that a voting system selected and certified by the SBE shall "provide access to voters with disabilities that is equivalent to access afforded voters without disabilities without creating a segregated ballot for voters with disabilities." <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>On December 18, 2013, the Attorney General of Maryland issued an opinion stating that if SBE chooses to certify an accessible ballot marking device that produces a ballot that is different in size and/or content from the hand-marked ballots, SBE “must establish randomized polling-place procedures to ensure that a significant number of non-disabled voters will use the accessible voting system to protect the secrecy of the ballots cast by voters with disabilities.” Requiring only two voters to use the BMD does not meet the definition of randomized polling procedures. We emphasize again that this two-voter minimum requirement denies blind and disabled voters the right to a truly secret ballot.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='page-break-after:avoid'><b>CRITICAL ERRORS BY THE SBE</b><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='page-break-after:avoid'>The experience of the 2016 primary and general elections demonstrated that all voters had little difficulty in navigating the multiple screens on the BMD. Although the concerns of the candidates were baseless, SBE still refused to change its two-voter policy for the 2018 elections. SBE also chose to disregard the concerns of disabled voters about their loss of the secret ballot.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>The National Federation of the Blind of Maryland (NFBMD) maintains that balancing the rights of voters against the complaints of candidates does not justify a system that:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>(1) </span><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>creates the physical segregation voters with disabilities;<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>(2) causes the segregation of their ballots according to physical appearance and content;<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>(3) jeopardizes the privacy of their votes. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>This was the reason language prohibiting a segregated ballot was included in Maryland Election Law Article §9-102(f)(1), Annotated Code of Maryland. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>We emphasize again that there were no reports of voters having difficulty with navigation during the 2016 election season. The issue of ballot order bias exists for both hand marked ballots and BMDs. While most studies agree there is a positive impact on candidates listed first, there is not a consensus on size of the impact.</span><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='page-break-after:avoid'><b>FAILURE TO IMPLEMENT BMD USAGE POLICY <o:p></o:p></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='page-break-after:avoid'>In the 2016 and 2018 elections, disabled voters were deprived of the guarantee of a secret ballot that has always been afforded to non-disabled voters. The SBE data from these elections demonstrates that the already inadequate SBE policy encouraging two voters in every precinct to use the BMD was a failure. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>In the 2016 general election, <span style='font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>twelve of the twenty-four counties or county equivalents in Maryland had at least one precinct where only one voter used the BMD. The SBE did not provide the data for precincts with zero voters using the BMD. See Appendix A for details. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal>The loss of the secret ballot by disabled voters was even worse in 2018 than it had been in 2016. Several primary elections were very close, which resulted in the recounts of votes. The BMD ballots were definitely identifiable during these recounts. <span style='font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>In the 2018 primary election, nine counties had polling places where only one vote was cast using the BMD. Once again, SBE did not provide the data for precincts with zero voters using the BMD. See Appendix B for details. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>In the 2018 general election, nine counties had at least one precinct where only one voter used the BMD machine. Nine counties also had at least one precinct where zero voters used the BMD machine. See Appendix C for details. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Sharon Maneki, Director of Legislation and Advocacy</span></b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal>National Federation of the Blind of Maryland<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>410-715-9596<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>The National Federation of the Blind of Maryland knows that blindness is not the characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want; blindness is not what holds you back</span>.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>