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<title>Blind advocate Armando Vias reflects on accessibility in voting – Houston Home Journal</title>
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<a href="https://hhjonline.com/blind-advocate-armando-vias-reflects-on-accessibility-in-voting/">https://hhjonline.com/blind-advocate-armando-vias-reflects-on-accessibility-in-voting/</a><br>
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Blind advocate Armando Vias reflects on accessibility in voting</h1>
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<a href="https://hhjonline.com/author/owen-jones/" title="Posts by Owen Jones/HHJ Staff Writer Jones" rel="author" style="margin: 0px; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 1em !important; font-weight: normal !important; font-style: normal !important; display: inline !important;" class="byline">Owen
Jones/HHJ Staff Writer Jones</a></div>
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Vias</figcaption></figure>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">WARNER ROBINS – <a href="https://hhjonline.com/citizen-wr-lacks-accessibility-for-certain-communities/" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">
Armando Vias</a> is a community advocate who is blind and is advocating for the disabled and blind community. </p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">Lately, Vias has been writing letters to companies to ensure website accessibility. </p>
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<p style="max-width: 100%;">“I am also still advocating for reliable and affordable public transportation in Houston County,” he said. </p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">Vias voted at the North Houston Sports Complex in Warner Robins on May 1 and said it was quite a ways away from his place of living. He then began having issues with the adaptive voting machine. </p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">“The problem at first was I thought the controller was not working when I tried to turn the volume up or down,” he said. </p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">Vias said they ended up calling over a voting technician to see what the problem was. They then had to get a new controller, so Vias had to wait longer than he wanted. </p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">“While I was waiting, one of the poll workers and I just walked around the track just to pass the time and keep the stress down,” he said. </p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">Still waiting, Vias went to lunch; when he returned, he was told the machine was ready. </p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">“The second time, however, I was trying to vote and it still did not work,” he said. “They came back and realized they made a mistake and must have pressed the wrong setting.” </p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">After correcting this mistake, the machine finally worked and Vias could vote.</p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">After his experience voting, Vias then went to the next Board of Elections meeting and expressed his concerns. </p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">“I wanted to make sure that this doesn’t happen to other people with disabilities who are blind or visually impaired,” he said. “As an advocate, I wanted to make sure that people with disabilities have voting rights so that they
can vote privately and independently.” </p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">Vias is still not entirely sure if the Board of Elections can fix these issues for this upcoming election, but is hopeful for change.</p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">“I just wanted to bring this up right now since I don’t want this to happen in a major election in 2024,” he said. “I want people with disabilities to know that advocacy is very important, and if something does not work, you need
to advocate for yourself to make sure it works correctly.”</p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">People with disabilities deserving their right to vote is very important to Vias. </p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">“People with disabilities deserve a voice to vote and deserve to make their voice heard,” he said. “If a wrong leader is elected into office, our disability rights are threatened and I don’t want that to happen. We should advocate
and keep fighting for our rights for equal access to society.” </p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">Along with advocating for the disabled community, Vias works for Disability Connections in Macon. Their five core services include resource referral, peer support, advocacy, independent living skills training, and transitions for
adults and youth. </p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">For more information about Disability Connections visit
<a target="_blank" href="https://www.disabilityconnections.com/" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">
https://www.disabilityconnections.com/</a></p>
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