[gui-talk] gui-talk FW: Times/Delta Article On Independent

[George Dominguez]

Man!  That sucks!  I'm disappointed that the libertarians did that to you.
I would have hoped otherwise.  Pam.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Brent Reynolds" <jbr53 at bellsouth.net>
To: <gui-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, June 09, 2006 8:11 PM
Subject: Re: [gui-talk] gui-talk FW: Times/Delta Article On Independent


>
> I guess we in Georgia, despite the state's reputation among many
uninformed,
> is quite a progressive place.  Thanks in large part to the Georgia
Secretary
> of State, Cathy Cox, who is now running for Governor in the Democratic
Party
> primaries this year, we got electronic voting fully accessible to all
> disability groups in every voting precinct in the entire state, all at the
> same time, back in 2002, in time for the last of the primary runoffs, just
> before the general election.
>
> Even before that happened, in this state, poll workers and poll monitors
> from the political parties are not allowed to assist people to fill in and
> cast their ballots.  The poll workers can help with the registration, ID
> verification, and to give you the card that starts the machine, or the
paper
> ballot if they need to use that for a backup.  Even before the machines
were
> installed, a blind voter would need to bring somebody along to help with
the
> filling out of the ballot, or to ask for help from one of the other voters
> waiting in line.
>
> Whenever the voting place for my local precinct was in a place difficult
to
> get to, or when I could not find a friend to go with who would also be
> voting at the same time, I would call up the local headquarters of the
major
> political parties a week or two in advance and ask if they have volunteers
> to help elderly people and people with disabilities to get to the polls
and
> to assist them with voting.
>
> In one presidential term period, I might call the Democrats, and in the
next
> one, I might call the Republicans.  In 2004 I thought I'd be generous and
> expand the reach of my inquiry net, and I called the local Libertarian
Party
> headquarters.  They informed me in no uncertain terms, and in a very
> condescending manner, that they don't do that sort of thing.  I gues with
> the LIbertarians, you're completely on your own in that and all other
> things, and don't expect any kind of assistance or feelings of empathy
from
> their quarter.  In the old punch-card and fanfold paper ballot days, I
> always had good results with the volunteers, both from the Democrats and
> from the Republicans.  With the electronic machine, with its
telephone-style
> keypad and its understandable, if slightly breathy speech output through
the
> headphones, we can do it completely independently.  The machines run on
> batteries as well as AC power, and a person in a wheelchair can put the
> machine on a lap or a tray in front the body, or the machine can be taken
> out to one's car or van if the polling place is physically inaccessible to
a
> mobility-impaired person.  No, the machines are not connected to the
> Internet, never were.  At the close of the polls, after everybody in line
> has voted, the machines have to be taken to another place in order to
obtain
> their tallies and results.
>
> As far as I know, Georgia was the first state to do that, and it has
worked
> surprisingly, very well since.  In the 2000 voting year, we still had the
> paper fanfold and the punch card we had to clamp into the holder and punch
> out with a stylus thingy that looked something like a sharpened golf tee
> tethered to the ballot tray by a coiled plastic cord.  My friend, or my
> party-assigned volunteer would position the race in the right place in the
> clamp and tell me from left to right which names were by each hole, and I
> would then position the stylus and make the punch.  I always told them
that
> I was an independent voter and the fact that they were volunteers working
> with one party or the other would not be influencing how I might vote.  I
> remember that in one election, the volunteer from the Democrats was a
> retired school teacher, and in another one, the volunteer sent by the
> Republicans was a corporate lawyer who drove up in a Mercedes S-class
sedan.
>  It was too bad that trip was such a short ride.
>
> This year, the precinct is an easily accessible place that is a short walk
> from a bus stop, so I will go there on a MARTA bus and vote independently
> without calling the party organizations and without needing to find a
friend
> who might be driving there at the same time to go vote.
>
> It is really nice to be able to have all the same options as any sighted
> person in a given area of one's conduct of one's public responsibilities.
>
> Now, as for those electronic voting machines, if you are totally deaf and
> blind, you would need to bring your own portable braille display or some
> other accessible device to plug into one of the machine's ports instead of
> using the headphones for the speech output.  I know the machines have a
> standard parallel printer port.  I did not check for a USB port the last
> time I voted.  I just used the headset that came with the machine.
>
> Every machine in the system is capable of using the keypad and the
headset,
> although only one keypad and headset are required to be available at each
> precinct.  Fully sighted people interface the machine with its built-in
> touch screen and electronic pen to check off the appropriate boxes on the
> screen as they scroll the ballot along.  Regardless of the interface,
after
> you have filled in each race, you can review the whole thing and make
> changes.  Once you check the box, or press the button to "cast" the
ballot,
> you have voted and your entries are final.  This year, the first primaries
> are about five or six weeks away.
>
>
> Brent Reynolds, Atlanta, GA  USA
> Email: jbr53 at bellsouth.net  Phone: 1-404-814-0768
>
> "Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who
> count the votes decide everything." - Joseph Stalin.
>
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