[NFBV-Announce] Did your local voting registrar miss the memo?

[Sarah Patnaude]

> 
> From Tracy Soforenko, President, National Federation of the Blind of Virginia
>  
> Many blind and low vision individuals are reporting that their local voting registrar is not aware that they need to provide us access to the remote ballot marking tool so we can mark our ballot privately and independently. We were clear in our legal actions that the local registrars and the public needed to be made aware of the responsibilities under the consent decree. We stressed that local voting registrars are busy and needed clear guidance. Furthermore, the process was new to the public and the Virginia Board of Elections needed to implement an effective communication campaign. The Virginia Board of Elections committed to communicate clearly to local election officials and the public. Unfortunately, the Virginia Board of Election’s communication campaign for this new process has not been sufficient. However, we can help. 
>  
> You should reach out to your local registrar by phone and tell them they have responsibilities under the consent decree to enable print disabled voters to vote privately and independently using the Voting Works remote ballot marking tool. You can feel free to share the attached memo which they received amongst other correspondence. Maybe, they missed the memo.
>  
> What should have happened and what you can do now?
>  
> If you use the Virginia Board of Elections Citizen Portal to request an absentee ballot and marked that you need assistance because you are disabled, blind or unable to read or write, the following should have occurred:
> Your local registrar would receive and validate you are registered to vote
> They should have contacted you by phone, email, or US Mail to ask if you wanted to use the Remote Ballot Marking Tool. If your local registrar has not already contacted you, you should call them and feel free to share this material, especially the attached memo.
> If you said yes to using the remote ballot marking tool when your local voting registrar contacted you, they should have sent you a specialized set of envelopes which provide tactile markings to help you distinguish the outer and inner envelopes.   Note: You need to print your ballot that you mark using the Voting Works remote ballot marking tool so you will need access to a working printer or have a means to access a printer. This is remote electronic ballot marking, not online voting. You still need to print and mail or drop off your ballot.
> If your local registrar has already sent you the full set of print ballot materials but you have not already used the materials to vote, you should certainly contact your registrar and tell them you want to vote using the remote ballot marking tool. Frankly, they should have already contacted you to ask if you want to use the remote ballot marking tool. If you say Yes, your local registrar can void your original paper ballot, send you access to the remote ballot marking tool, and send you the specialized envelopes with the tactile markings.
>  
> Local voting registrar offices are busy, but they are required by the consent decree to comply with this process. We need to educate them and help them deliver on their responsibilities. The attached memorandum references some internal processes which are not familiar to us but will be understandable to the local election officials. Your registrar knows these processes and can work within these constraints.
>  
> Again, you are encouraged to reach out to your local registrar and share the attached memo  that the Virginia Board of Elections sent to the local voting registrars earlier this month.
>  
> If you have questions, please read the outstanding message distributed on Sunday and attend one of our upcoming training sessions.
>  
> Tracy Soforenko
> President, National Federation of the Blind of Virginia
> 202 285-4595
> Tracy.soforenko at gmail.com
> www.nfb.org
> www.nfbv.org
> National Federation of the Blind. 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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