[NFBMT] ExpressVote: My Public Comment

[Dar]

Here in town at the court house, the folks are standing by us while putting the ballad in the envelope. 
The room isn’t all that big so we don’t experience what you are talking about.
The folks are very kind and wait for us to come each year to vote.
No matter how many times we need to come and do this.
I hope you can get all worked out.


Dar 
Every Saint has a past, 
Every sinner has a future, Sent from my iPad

> On Aug 28, 2019, at 10:01 PM, BRUCE&JOY BRESLAUER via NFBMT <nfbmt at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> 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
> 
> 
> 
> The National Federation of the Blind is a community of members and friends
> 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. 
> 
> 
> 
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