[nFBMI-Talk] New voting machines a challenge for Michigan's blind voters Paul Egan

Posont, Donna donnabutterfly50 at gmail.com
Wed Aug 8 00:42:08 UTC 2018


Hi, I would like to share my experience with the VAT machine. The pole worker could not get the audio to work and he wanted to vote for me with the touch screen and I told him that was not going to happen. He called someone from the city of Dearborn and I sat and waited for a while. When the lady came I kept saying hello and there was no answer and then I asked the guy where she was and he said  that she was stansing right next to me. Then I asked for her name. She did answer me. The guy told her that earlier in the day another blind person came and that person let him mark the ballot with the touch screen. She said, " I am guessing that is not happening here". I said I wanted to vote myself with a secret ballot. She got the audio working and I said that I wanted the screen turned off. She said that she could not do that and I said that I wanted to vote with a secret ballot. She got irritated and said, "We are not watching you, we are standing on the other side. I said, "Is that your final answer and she said yes so I went ahead and used the machine to vote. I used the machine, but, it was more confusing than the automark used to be. I was not going to give up my right to vote, but, in order to do that I had to give up my right to cast a secret ballot. Some change needs to occur before November.							

-----Original Message-----
From: NFBMI-Talk <nfbmi-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Mark Eagle via NFBMI-Talk
Sent: Tuesday, August 7, 2018 5:33 PM
To: NFB of Michigan Internet Mailing List <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Mark Eagle <markaeagle at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [nFBMI-Talk] New voting machines a challenge for Michigan's blind voters Paul Egan

Hi everyone,
What is really upsetting is that neither the Hart or Dominion machines allow deaf-blind persons to vote. No refreshable braille displays. Other groups representing persons with disabilities like quadriplegic have complained the number of keystrokes Dominion requires to complete a ballot is much more than the Automark by far. These two machines need to be banned from the November's election. The machines don't allow secret and independent voting. They violate the 14th amendment's equal protection clause, HAVA and Michigan election law.
Mark Eagle

      From: Elizabeth Mohnke via NFBMI-Talk <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org>
 To: NFB of Michigan Internet Mailing List <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Elizabeth Mohnke <lizmohnke at hotmail.com>
 Sent: Tuesday, August 7, 2018 4:25 PM
 Subject: Re: [nFBMI-Talk] New voting machines a challenge for Michigan's blind voters Paul Egan
   
Hello All,

I just wanted to let people know that this article is definitely being noticed by others. I just saw a posting of it by the Associated Press on the WKAR website. 

It is too bad I did not know my county selected the Hart voting machines before this past weekend. Otherwise, we could have demonstrated how difficult they are for a blind person to use to cast an independent ballot.

I still do not understand how a spokesperson from the Secretary of State can speak for other people with disabilities. And even if people with other disabilities are able to use these new voting machines, they need to be accessible to everyone, including those of us who are blind. 

With the technology we have today I do not understand why there needs to be a separate voting machine for people with disabilities. If cell phones and computers can be made accessible out of the box without providing a separate device for people with disabilities, then I do not understand why the same cannot be done with voting equipment.

Anyway, it is nice to see this story be noticed by others despite the fact that I was not able to cast an independent ballot when voting today. I wish there was an accessible absentee ballot so I did not have to deal with the problems that come with being the only blind person who votes at my precinct.

Warm Regards,
Elizabeth


-----Original Message-----
From: NFBMI-Talk [mailto:nfbmi-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Mark Eagle via NFBMI-Talk
Sent: Monday, August 06, 2018 1:06 PM
To: NFB of Michigan Internet Mailing List <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Mark Eagle <markaeagle at yahoo.com>
Subject: [nFBMI-Talk] New voting machines a challenge for Michigan's blind voters Paul Egan

New voting machines a challenge for Michigan's blind voters Paul Egan , Detroit Free Press New voting equipment purchased by many Michigan counties, includingWayne, Oakland and Ingham, is difficult for blind people to use without help, advocates say. Wochit Fred Wurtzel, who is blind, attempts to use new votingequipment in Lansing Township. (Photo: Paul Egan/Detroit Free Press) Buy Photo LANSING TWP. ' When millions of Michigan residents go to the polls in Tuesday'sprimary election, many will'be  be using new voting equipment for the first time. Most probably won't notice much'difference. But much of the new equipment' needed to upgrade aging voting machines around the state and paid for with $40 million in federal and state money ' is expected to present challengesfor blind voters. It's estimated about 221,000 Michigan residents have a visual disability, based on a 2015 survey. Until 2002, when the federal Help AmericaVote Act became law, most blind people had to tell their voting choices to a sighted person and trust that person to accurately mark their ballot for them.For more than a decade, blind Michigan voters such as Fred Wurtzel have used an'AutoMark Voter Assist Terminal, which had a touch screen and a keypad markedwith Braille ' among other features ' to help blind voters cast secret ballots without having to ask for help. New Dominion Voting Systems equipment 'now in use in most Michigan counties, including Wayne and Ingham, but not'Oakland or Macomb' also has voter assist terminals. But the keypads aren't markedwith Braille and some of the instructions blind voters receive over headphones reference buttons by what color they are, not where on the handset theyare located. That's not helpful to someone who can't see. Wurtzel, who is second vice president of the National Federation of the Blind in Michigan, saidit's also not easy to figure out how to turn on a privacy screen that would keep others from seeing his'ballot while he fills it out. And'he found manyof the verbal instructions ' received through a headset ' difficult to hear or otherwise confusing. Casting a secret ballot "is a fundamental right thatwe all expect," said Wurtzel.' Most everybody takes it for granted. When he first tried the new Dominion voting equipment, Wurtzel felt like he'd "beenthrown back into second-class citizenship," he said. More: New voting machines coming to Michigan: Here's how they're different More: Michigan Primary2018: Voter guide for Macomb, Wayne, Oakland counties He has since been able to experiment further with the new voter assist terminal, through the cooperationof Lansing Township Clerk Susan Aten. Wurtzel now believes he will be able to use the equipment to cast a secret ballot without assistance. For blind peopleencountering the new equipment for the first time, "it's going to be a big challenge," Wurtzel said. Still, "I want to encourage everyone to do it, becauseunless we exercise our right to vote, we're not going to be taken seriously. Michigan counties got to choose between three different types of new votingequipment ' Dominion, Election Systems & Software (ES&S), or Hart InterCivic. Wurtzel said he and about 100 other blind people got to try voter assistterminals from all three companies during a 2016 mock election the state staged in advance of the procurement process. He said the blind testers were unanimousin telling the state they preferred the ES&S equipment, which was selected by Macomb and fewer than a dozen other Michigan counties. The ES&S terminalswere closest to the AutoMark system blind people were used to, he said. The Hart InterCivic equipment ' chosen by Oakland and about 10 other counties 'was even harder to use than the Dominion equipment, Wurtzel said. Dominion and Hart InterCivic did not respond to emails seeking comment. Fred Woodhams,a spokesman for the Michigan Secretary of State's Office, said the devices from all three manufacturers are federally certified and compliant with theAmericans With Disabilities Act. Some communities began using the new equipment in 2017, he said. "We have heard from some individuals with visual impairmentwho expressed concerns about the new devices that assist voters with disabilities," Woodhams said. "Some of the people said they preferred the ES&S systemover the devices from the two other vendors, or that they liked the old ES&S Automark device that was used statewide before the election equipment replacement.Still, many people with other types of disabilities "give the new devices high marks," and prefer them to the equipment used in Michigan previously, hesaid. He cited quadriplegia and'severe brain injuries as examples of other disabilities that could be better served by the new equipment. State officials"greatly appreciate their feedback and will take their concerns into account as we work with the vendors to improve the devices," Woodhams said. InghamCounty Clerk Barb Byrum said it's "beyond concerning" that blind voters have expressed valid concerns about the new equipment and she has been meetingwith representatives of the blind community in recent months to make changes ' some of which will require federal and state approval. Though the ES&S equipmentscored better than Dominion with respect to blind voters, Byrum said she'd had problems with the level of support ES&S provided for the former equipmentand felt she needed to go with a different vendor. Oakland County Clerk Lisa Brown said Thursday she was not aware the Hart equipment had been ranked lastof the three technologies by blind testers. Most Oakland communities used the new equipment in 2017 elections and "I have not had any complaints," shesaid. "I hope we don't have any problems," Brown said. "I don't want anyone to feel uncomfortable voting. Wurtzel said that even after getting throughthe voting process with the Dominion equipment,'he is concerned the ballot he will turn in looks conspicuously different from those that sighted peoplewill mark. Though it would mostly only become an issue in the event of a recount where ballots are checked by hand, "this is not a secret ballot'becausemy ballot looks different from everyone else's," he said. In Lansing Township, Aten said the new equipment is less than ideal for blind voters who wantto vote in secret and without assistance' especially during an inevitable learning curve ' but she and her staff will do what they can to try to make thechange as seamless as possible. Aten said she's instructing her election workers ' who aren't blind ' to use the voter assist terminals to vote so therewill be more ballots that look similar to the one Wurtzel uses. Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan at freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4. Detroit Free Press, August 5 2018 _______________________________________________
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