[nabs-l] NABS Membership Call Survey

Tue Aug 28 03:46:07 UTC 2012

I'm excited to see that other people support the idea of getting involved
but sad to admit that it's a problem.

My story is this:  In 2008, I went for early voting at one of the
designated places in Nashville.  When it was my turn, they designated a
polling machine to me.  Before I began the process, I asked about assisted
voting.  Maybe I should have asked about accessible polling machines?
 Anyway, he just said he'd have to help me and that was the only option I
had.  I turned him down and went through the process myself (I do have some
vision).

It seems that the voting issues fall into a few categories:
1) lack of knowledge of rights/responsibilities on behalf of the voter
2) lack of training and knowledge of polling staff
3) lack of a functioning accessible voting machine on site
4) difficult-to-follow tutorials/instructions for the accessible machine

For me, numbers 1 and 2 seem to be the biggest problems.  How do we get the
word out and how do we insure that the people at the polling places are
trained and that there is a funcitoning machine available?

I like the idea about having demos.  Barring that, would it be possible to
record a tutorial and post it online?  Maybe by someone who has used it
recently?  I've heard that the tutorial provided at the polling place is
often not straightforward or easy to follow and that a blind user could do
a better job haha

I think we should at the very least inform people of their rights.  I think
finding the federal law wouldn't be too hard, but some rules vary state by
state.  I'm having trouble tracking down the information for TN, for
example.  Anyway, here is the federal law (I think).

*Voting Accessibility for the Elderly and Handicapped Act*

The Voting Accessibility for the Elderly and Handicapped Act of 1984
generally requires polling places across the United States to be physically
accessible to people with disabilities for federal elections. Where no
accessible location is available to serve as a polling place, a political
subdivision must provide an alternate means of casting a ballot on the day
of the election. This law also requires states to make available
registration and voting aids for disabled and elderly voters, including
information by TTYs (also known as TDDs) or similar devices. For more
information, contact:

U.S. Department of Justice
Civil Rights Division
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Voting Section - 1800 G
Washington, D.C. 20530

(800) 253-3931 (voice/TTY)

*National Voter Registration Act*

The National Voter Registration Act of 1993, also known as the "Motor Voter
Act," makes it easier for all Americans to exercise their fundamental right
to vote. One of the basic purposes of the Act is to increase the
historically low registration rates of minorities and persons with
disabilities that have resulted from discrimination. The Motor Voter Act
requires all offices of State-funded programs that are primarily engaged in
providing services to persons with disabilities to provide all program
applicants with voter registration forms, to assist them in completing the
forms, and to transmit completed forms to the appropriate State official.
For more information, contact:

U.S. Department of Justice
Civil Rights Division
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Voting Section - 1800 G
Washington, D.C. 20530

www.usdoj.gov/crt/voting

(800) 253-3931 (voice/TTY)

It seems that the NFB has a lot of lawyers.  Is it possible for us to get
someone trained in law to help us with this one?

Here is another good resource, the Department of Justice:
http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/drs/

One question I have is, why aren't ALL voting machines accessible?  It
seems like this is more of a software issue.  Would it not be possible to
write accessible software to be used on all machines?

One other thing is that we should encourage people to file a complaint if
they have these aforementioned problems this year and in the future.  We
(the NFB) should provide information on that, as well.

While I think this is a concern for the whole NFB on a national level, I
think as students, we are in a good spot to target new voters and college
students who have not voted before.  Maybe we could draft a brochure about
rights and responsibilities and general information (maybe even for people
who aren't blind but are disabled?) and make sure it gets distributed at
voter registration drives going on campus.

Cindy also makes a good point about getting to the voting place.  Also,
this will become even more difficult in many states that require valid
state IDs (like TN, AL, AR, etc.).  How should we deal with this?

In the field of observation, chance favors only the prepared mind.
    ~Louis Pasteur, lecture 1854

On Mon, Aug 27, 2012 at 5:58 PM, Cynthia Bennett <clb5590 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Stephanie:
>
> That is a great idea. I had a similar experience as Josh as I voted in
> my first election. They were the 2008 primaries, and I was very
> excited. When the machine did not work, I asked a poll worker to
> assist me. They filled in the ballot as I wished, but the worker did
> make some comments about their preference on a politician. This
> occured when I said that I did not want to vote for a particular
> office, because I was unfamiliar with any of the candidates. I said
> something like, "I don't want to fill in anything for this," and the
> worker responded with "Oh, I heard that ___ is pretty good. Do you
> want me to fill in his/her name?" I chose to still not vote for that
> particular office. This practice is illegal, and I chose not to say
> anything about it. But I do think that an informational call about
> rights and accessible voting machines would be awesome. Unfortunately,
> each state is a little different, but information about federal
> mandates on the presence of accessible voting machines/rights and some
> typical patterns in accessible voting in states would be great. For
> example, Washington conducts mail ballots. There are a few precincts
> around town, but if you work in a neighborhood in which it takes a
> while to get to a precinct, you are at a disadvantage as a blind
> person. So, you can either take off work and use public transportation
> to navigate to one of the few and very busy precincts and wait in a
> 3-hour line, or you can find a reader and disclose your voting
> preferences. The other animal in this issue is that if you choose to
> get a reader to fill out your signature does not match the signature
> on your state ID which is kept on file, then your ballot can be deemed
> as false and not counted. As a blind person, I do the best I can with
> my signature, but I do think that even the most ambitious blind people
> are at a disadvantage when having to match a signature, and our
> ballots could not be counted, and we may not hear about it, or we
> would learn of it after elections are closed. If we are afraid that
> our signature may not match that of our state ID, then we can have 2
> witnesses sign. But that is 2 more people that have to see my ballot.
> I do not think that this practice is common within the states, and I
> would definitely not like my experience to dominate the nature of the
> call, but I wanted to relay it to show that I think this is a very
> good idea. I would personally like some professional/legal
> advice/legal suggestions on how this can be changed.
>
> So, if you have any suggestions on people to conduct this call, or
> resources for where this information can be found, please share it. If
> not, the membership committee will certainly take the initiative to
> conduct an informative call if we do in fact decide to pursue this
> topic. But I wanted to make sure that since you made the suggestion,
> you are welcome to provide suggestions on people to conduct the call.
>
> I know that someone comes to each NC state convention with an
> accessible voting machine to show in the exhibit hall. During this
> time, people can vote in a fake election and orient themselves to the
> machine. I am not sure if NC is still doing this since it has been a
> few years since the accessible machines were introduced, but I think
> there is still a need for outreach about accessible voting.
>
> Keep the good membership call suggestions coming!
> Cindy
>
> On 8/27/12, Joshua Lester <JLester8462 at pccuaedu.onmicrosoft.com> wrote:
> > Hi, Stephanie!
> > That's a great idea!
> > I went to my voting site, earlier this year, and the machine didn't work.
> > My Disability Rights person that works for the governor, here said he'd
> come
> > down, to show them how to work it, but he never showed up!
> > Thanks, Joshua
> > ________________________________________
> > From: nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org [nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] on behalf of
> > Stephanie DeLuca [sjhhirst at gmail.com]
> > Sent: Monday, August 27, 2012 2:53 PM
> > To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
> > Subject: Re: [nabs-l] NABS Membership Call Survey
> >
> > I think a discussion on voting as people with disabilities would be good.
> > Since a lot of people are on college campuses, it'd be a good
> opportunity to
> > get involved with informing people with disabilities (mainly VI) about
> > rights and responsibilities for voting.  I've been to/worked at several
> > voter registration drives, and I have NEVER seen information on voting if
> > you have a disability.
> >
> > On Aug 27, 2012, at 2:32 PM, Cody Bair <codyjbair at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >
> >> Hi All,
> >> As you are probably already aware, NABS conducts monthly membership
> calls.
> >> In order to get this school year started we are currently seeking your
> >> input on what topics you would like to see us cover this year. Please
> >> either reply directly to this thread with your suggestions or mail them
> >> directly to
> >> Nabs.membership at gmail.com
> >> Sincerely,
> >> The NABS membership Committee
> >>
> >>
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>
> --
> Cynthia Bennett
> B.A. Psychology, UNC Wilmington
>
> clb5590 at gmail.com
> 828.989.5383
>
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