[Nfbmo] FW: [NFBAffiliatePresidents] HAVA grant update e-mail

[Gary Wunder]

We got a few questions about voting machines, and the lack of compliance at
a recent membership meeting in St. Louis. Please see the announcement below
re what we are doing about voting for blind folks and the monitoring we will
do.

Gary

	 

-----Original Message-----

 

September 29, 2010

 

To State Election Officials, Protection and Advocacy Organizations, and
National Federation of the Blind State Affiliates:

 

For the sixth year, the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) is the
recipient of a grant under the US Department of Health and Human Services,
Administration on Developmental Disabilities (ADD) Help America Vote Act
grant program.  In order to create an awareness of nonvisual election
technology and promote voting accessibility for the blind and visually
impaired, the National Federation of the Blind will continue its efforts to
provide comprehensive training materials, information, and access to
nonvisual voting machines and technology.
The National Center for Nonvisual Election Technology (NCNET) is based at
the National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute in Baltimore,
Maryland.

 

Plans for the 2009-2010 HAVA grant include:

*        Develop a voter registration and education program that will be
implemented at the grassroots level to eliminate barriers that prevent blind
people from registering to vote by providing materials in alternate format
that will promote voter registration among the blind.

*        Preparation of a guide to nonvisual access for voting
technology developers.  The guide will be distributed to technology
developers during a nonvisual access technology seminar hosted by the NCNET.

*        The NCNET will continue to have voting machines available for
demonstration and evaluation at no cost to election personnel or the public.
Reservations with the NCNET staff are required in advance to ensure that one
of our experts will be available to demonstrate the voting machines or
answer questions.  Contact Clara Van Gerven at (410) 659-9314, extension
2410, to make a reservation.  Also, the NCNET staff continues to provide
informative consultation services on the user interface and accessibility
features of these machines.  In addition, the staff of the NCNET provides
feedback directly to voting machine manufacturers in order to improve
accessibility features and to make voting machines more user-friendly to
blind and visually impaired voters.

*        Continue to make available a free poll worker training
curriculum on nonvisual election technology.  The Nonvisual Election
Technology Training Curriculum, created and produced by the National
Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute, is available on the World Wide
Web.  Anyone who is interested in learning more about accessible voting
machines and the NFB's role in assisting with the implementation of the Help
America Vote Act can obtain a free training curriculum.
Visit Nonvisual Election Technology
<http://www.nfb.org/nfb/HAVA_intro.asp?SnID=450365599>  at the NFB Web site,
www.nfb.org <http://www.nfb.org/> , to view the curriculum, or download it
to your computer for future reference and training purposes.

 

Accomplishments during the third and fourth quarters of the 2009-2010 grant
include:

*        Developed the Nonvisual Access Election Technology Guide, a
guide intended for election technology developers that describes the
attributes necessary for accessibility design.  Election officials will also
find the guide useful when evaluating election technology for purchase.  To
view or download the guide in MS Word or BRF formats, go
to: http://www.nfb.org/nfb/purchasing_voting_machine.asp. 

*        Conducted a seminar for representatives from the major election
technology developers on nonvisual access to election technology.
Seminar topics included user experience, accessibility design, and poll
worker training.  Representatives from the United States Access Board and
the National Institute of Standards and Technology discussed federal
guidelines and testing standards.  A demonstration of access technology,
including state-of-the-art touchscreen technology, was provided by NFB
access technology experts.  Representatives from Dominion Voting Systems,
Election Systems & Software, Everyone Counts, and Hart InterCivic attended.

 

For further information, contact the HAVA program manager, Lou Ann Blake at
lblake at nfb.org.  Or to obtain the Nonvisual Election Technology Curriculum
online, click on the following hyperlink: Nonvisual Election Technology
Curriculum <http://www.nfb.org/nfb/HAVA_intro.asp?SnID=450365599> . 

 

To make a reservation to visit the NCNET for demonstrations and technical
expertise, or evaluation of voting machines, contact Clara Van Gerven by
telephone at (410) 659-9314, extension 2410, or by e-mail at
cvangerven at nfb.org. 

 

 

 

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