[Mn-abs] Fwd: [il-talk] Fwd: ensuring fairness in elections

[David Andrews]

>
>Hello All,
>
>I hope this finds each of you well and enjoying the  remaining days of
>outdoor weather.  The article below appeared in the  local daily paper last
>week and I wanted to share it with you.  Please  pass it along to anyone you
>think might be interested.  Hope to hear  from you soon.
>
>Love and God bless,
>Pam
>
>Duluth News  Tribune
>
>Ensuring fairness in elections
>BY   JASON MOHR, NEWS TRIBUNE STAFF  WRITER
>September 29, 2006
>It wasn't the first time she cast a ballot, but earlier
>this
>month Pamela Provost  voted without someone looking over
>her
>shoulder.
>Because Provost is blind, for the past 36 years she  either
>had
>to tag along with a friend or get two election officials
>to
>read her choices and mark her  ballot.
>Asking  a friend or family member was OK, but having two
>officials -- one from each political party --  crowded into
>a
>voting booth "wasn't exactly private," she said.
>But thanks to new voting equipment  installed in every
>Minnesota polling place, Provost can do it on her own.
>"It was a pretty emotional  experience for me," she said of
>voting in the primary election. "I can't even describe  how
>that  felt."
>One of  the new $8,000 machines was on display Thursday
>evening
>as a panel of election experts  and advocates gathered to
>discuss the trustworthiness of Minnesota's election  system
>in
>front of a crowd of about 60 people at St. Paul's
>Episcopal
>Church. The event was sponsored  by the League of Women
>Voters
>of Duluth and other community organizations.
>After problems with  counting and access plagued Florida in
>2000 and Ohio in 2004, some voters are  uneasy.
>But  Minnesota voters should feel good about their system,
>said
>state Rep. Bill Hilty,  DFL-Finlayson.
>"I think that right now Minnesota has the best election
>system
>of any state in the  country," said Hilty, a member of the
>House Civil Law and Elections Committee and author  of
>several
>state voting laws.
>The state will hold its inaugural post-election audit
>after
>the November election,  Hilty said. The votes will be
>hand-counted during the audit from two precincts in  every
>county.
>But  Minnesota can always fine-tune its process, Hilty and
>others said.
>American Indians faced challenges in  2004; a last-minute
>lawsuit allowed the use of tribal IDs at polls and there
>was
>harassment reported at a  Red Lake Reservation polling
>place,
>said Judy Hanks of Native Vote Alliance of  Minnesota. The
>Bemidji and Leech Lake Reservation resident said tribes
>will
>continue to ask that vouchers  be allowed to verify proof
>of
>residence.
>And the protections laid out in the Voting Rights  Act
>should
>continue to be protected, said Melissa Taylor of Women's
>Community Development Organization. In  Duluth, blacks are
>subject to intimidating looks and challenges once they  get
>to
>the  polls, she said.
>All Minnesotans will fill out a paper ballot, which is
>then
>fed into a scanner to be  counted. This method is
>considered
>more accurate than hand-counting, although some  say
>scanner
>performance has never been reviewed.
>Carlton, Cook, Lake and St. Louis counties all use  systems
>manufactured by Elections Systems and Software of Omaha,
>Neb.,
>which most Minnesota  counties use.
>The new accessible machines, called AutoMARK, can help
>those
>with mobility problems, too,  said Tim Bearheart of the St.
>Louis County Auditor's office. For example, a voter in  a
>wheelchair  who navigates via use of a mouth straw is able
>to
>use the new machines, he  said.
>Bearheart said 200 voters cast ballots with the new
>accessible
>machines in this month's  primary -- a number expected to
>rise
>in November's general election.
>The machines talk blind voters  through their choices with
>the
>use of headphones. Selections are automatically marked  on
>a
>ballot, which the user hands to an official to feed into a
>counter machine.
>Provost, formerly of  Chicago and now a Braille instructor
>at
>Duluth's Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually  Impaired,
>said
>the key is to have enough qualified judges to help  voters
>with
>the new machines.
>The St. Louis County Auditor's office said two training
>sessions were held for 138  election judges and city and
>township clerks. He said the new voting machines will be
>provided with better  privacy in November.
>Provost said others like her probably will go to the
>polls.
>"For me, there's  something about going to the polls by
>yourself," she said.
>Election officials in other states aren't as  relaxed.
>Critics worry that paperless ballots -- known as DRE or
>"direct recording electronic" -- are a  recipe for
>disaster.
>Maryland officials experienced myriad hassles with these
>machines earlier this  month.
>"I  think that right now Minnesota has the best election
>system
>of any state in the  country."STATE REP. BILL HILTY,
>DFL-Finlayson, who is a member of the House Civil Law  and
>Elections  Committee and author of several state voting
>laws.
>
>All content © 2006- Duluth News-Tribune (MN) and may not be
>republished without  permission.
>
>
>
>
>
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David Andrews and white cane Harry.