[nabs-l] Fwd: voting accessibility

[Cindy]

Thanks for sharing. This is great information. We can definitely use it as a starting point for our call.

Cindy

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 7, 2012, at 12:52 PM, Stephanie DeLuca <sjhhirst at gmail.com> wrote:

> 
> 
> Begin forwarded message:
> 
>> From: "Blake, Lou Ann" <LBlake at nfb.org>
>> Subject: RE: voting accessibility
>> Date: September 7, 2012 2:27:19 PM CDT
>> To: Stephanie DeLuca <sjhhirst at gmail.com>
>> 
>> Hi Stephanie,
>> 
>> Thanks so much for your e-mail! I am very glad to hear that the members of the blind students division are interested in accessible voting. 
>> 
>> The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) requires that at least one accessible voting machine be provided in every polling place for all federal elections. Therefore, there should be at least one accessible voting machine in every polling place for the upcoming presidential election on November 6th. However, HAVA does not apply to state and local elections, so when a blind voter goes to her local polling place for a state/local election there may not be an accessible voting machine available.
>> 
>> It has been my experience, both personal and from what other blind voters have told me, that the biggest barrier to a blind voter's ability to cast a private and independent ballot is the untrained poll worker who does not know how to set-up or operate the accessible voting machine. In most of these instances, if the blind voter is patient and politely insist that she wants to use the accessible voting machine, the poll workers are able to get the accessible machine operating. When a blind voter is not able to cast a private and independent vote because an accessible machine is not present or the poll workers cannot get it operating, she should file a complaint with her state board of elections. 
>> 
>> I have attached The Blind Voter's Guide, which provides additional information about the rights of blind voters. This guide was prepared under the Jernigan Institute's 2008-2009 HAVA grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Please feel free to distribute this guide to other blind voters.
>> 
>> If you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact me.
>> 
>> Best regards,
>> 
>> Lou Ann
>> 
>> Lou Ann Blake, J.D.
>> HAVA Project Manager and Law Symposium Coordinator
>> Jernigan Institute
>> NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
>> 200 East Wells Street
>>   at Jernigan Place
>> Baltimore, MD 21230
>> Telephone: (410) 659-9314, ext. 2221
>> Fax: (410) 659-5129
>> E-mail: lblake at nfb.org
>> Web site: www.nfb.org
>> 
>> 
>> Text the word BLIND to 85944 to donate $10 to the NFB Imagination Fund via your phone bill.
>> 
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Stephanie DeLuca [mailto:sjhhirst at gmail.com] 
>> Sent: Friday, September 07, 2012 2:49 PM
>> To: Blake, Lou Ann
>> Cc: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
>> Subject: voting accessibility
>> 
>> Dear Lou Ann,
>> 
>> The National Association of Blind Students (NABS) has been discussing voting accessibility lately, especially since, as students, we are all in a good place to inform the public about the need for accessible voting and educating blind/VI voters on their rights and responsibilities.  One key part of this is that we need to know what exactly ARE our rights and responsibilities?  Which laws should we read?  Do you know how we can access that information?  We all feel that this is quite important, as voting is something that every citizen has a right to do, but several stories have been shared on the list in which the blind/VI voter was not able to vote in private using the "accessible" voting machine.  We look forward to hearing from you soon!  Thanks!
>> 
>> Stephanie DeLuca
>> 
>> 
> 
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