[nabs-l] Fwd: voting accessibility

[Courtney Stover]

Stephanie,

The Blind Voters Guide attachment didn't come through; could you send
that in a separate message, please?  It seems as though it could be
very informative.
Warmest Regards,
Courtney

On 9/7/12, Cindy <clb5590 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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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