[NFBMT] ExpressVote: My Public Comment

[BRUCE&JOY BRESLAUER]

I was at the ExpressVote demonstration in Helena on Monday, August 26, 2019,
where I was introduced to the ExpressVote by ES&S, which will replace the
AutoMARK for voters with disabilities.  

 

I was impressed with the machine.  As a voter with a disability, my concerns
stem from the fact that I want my voting rights to privacy, secrecy, and
security protected, just like any other citizen does.  The ballots used for
the ExpressVote are not the same size as standard ballots, which means to me
that those ballots can potentially be identified as having been cast by a
person with a disability.  That is why I think it is imperative that the
officials at the polling places incentivize the use of the ExpressVote
machines by every voter, not just those with disabilities.  Don't stick them
off in a corner somewhere where nobody can see them or know where they are.
Provide a privacy screen for the voter.  Make sure the election officials
know how to use the machines, and know how to instruct any voter how to use
them.  My vote should pass secretly from my hand to the privacy envelope to
the ballot box, with no other hands or eyes or minds interfering.  This is
the right of every voter, including me, a right that most people take for
granted and which I have had to fight for and have only enjoyed for the past
eight or ten years.  I have not missed an election for anything since I was
old enough to vote, and I cherish that right and privilege.

 

 I also would respectfully suggest that if any decisions concerning people
with disabilities are made without consulting us about what we need or want,
that is disrespectful and harmful.  I know these machines were put through an
ADA certification process, but I as an American citizen was not consulted.
Someone without a disability should never make assumptions about what someone
with a disability may need or want or prefer without asking us first.  It is
unconscionable that we were left out of the process.  Please keep that in
mind when making any future decisions concerning American citizens with
disabilities.  We will not stand for being treated like second class
citizens.  Nothing about us without us. 

 

Joy Breslauer, First Vice President, and Advocacy and Public Policy Committee
chair 

National Federation of the Blind of Montana 

Web Site: http://www.nfbofmt.org <http://www.nfbofmt.org/> 

 

Live the life you want

 

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who believe in the hopes and dreams of the nation's blind. Every day we work
together to help blind people live the lives they want.