[NFBMT] ExpressVote: My Public Comment

Thu Sep 5 02:27:16 UTC 2019

Hi All,

I'm a little late passing this information along, but I attended the second
day of the Montana Secretary of State certification of the state's new
voting machines.  I also provided testimony during the event's public
comment period on behalf of the NFB-MT.  Joy's description of her
experiences doing the first day of the event is excellent.

The new machine is a good one.  The only flaw is that it is awkward to
submit a write-in vote using the machine.  Perhaps another is that the
machine produces a non-standard ballot.  However, both Joy and I were
surprised to learn that the new law passed by the 2019 Legislature and
signed by the Governor permits the use of non-standard ballots.

To vote privately, the NFB-MT advocates that all voters should be encouraged
and enticed into using the voting machines.  If a significant number of
voters use the machines, our privacy issues are  resolved.  I hope each of
you advocates for making these machines part of the mainstream so that we
avoid the trap of creating a disability-only voting option.  This point is
huge if we are to be able to vote privately.

In addition, election officials need to know how to use the machines and be
ready to show voters how to use them.  Making sure election officials do
their duty is equally important for the sake of the best accessibility
possible.

Lastly, the NFB-MT must be at the table when state and local government
officials are making decisions that concern us.  In my testimony, I stressed
this because the Secretary of State showed us little regard.  They even held
the public comment period at the end of the certification event, which
mostly consisted of a few hours of demonstration and many boring hours of
testing the voting machines and the electronic tallying devices.  It would
have been far more respectful to hold the public comment before the testing
portion of the certification event.  To be clear, I do not believe there was
any malice in the disrespect, but we all know the road to hell is paved with
good intentions and low expectations.  We matter, and it's high time
government realizes this fact.

Yes, we will discuss voting at our upcoming convention at the Missoula
Fairbirdge Inn on October 11 and 12.  Hope to see each of you there.  It's
going to be a powerful event, and I'm very excited about it.

Jim Marks
President, National Federation of the Blind of Montana
president at nfbofmt.org
(406) 438-1421

-----Original Message-----
From: NFBMT <nfbmt-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of BRUCE&JOY BRESLAUER via
NFBMT
Sent: Wednesday, August 28, 2019 10:02 PM
To: soselections at mt.gov
Cc: BRUCE&JOY BRESLAUER <breslauerj at gmail.com>
Subject: [NFBMT] ExpressVote: My Public Comment

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/> 

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who believe in the hopes and dreams of the nation's blind. Every day we work
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