[nfb-talk] 2006 Election Marks a NewPlateauofEqualityforthe Blind

Wed Nov 8 20:10:23 CST 2006

Yes ours was blank as well.

I asked about that.
but it would tell you how to turn it off if it wasn't.

--Dar
wishing a
backTpack
call me at
406-259-1124
Every Saint has a past,
Every sinner has a future ,
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Judy Jones" <nfbwatac at earthlink.net>
To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 08, 2006 1:39 PM
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] 2006 Election Marks a NewPlateauofEqualityforthe 
Blind

Hi, David,

I'm not sure what type of machine you had, but we had the Sequoia, and that
one has a speed adjustment button on the keypad.

One nice thing about ours too, is that when you are voting with the audio
hook-up, the screen is blank.  I understand not all of them are, and that
some give you an option there.

Best wishes.

Judy

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Evans" <drevans at bellsouth.net>
To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 08, 2006 6:57 AM
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] 2006 Election Marks a New PlateauofEqualityforthe
Blind

Dear Judy and All,

I too used our voting machines, again, to vote independently.
I was the first blind person to use the DRE back in the 2002 elections in
Palm Beach County.
AS for elections that came in-between, My luck was not as good.
I experienced a problem every time with either poll workers, who could not
or did not know how to get the audio ballot to work.
I once spent more than 2 hours with the poll captain, trying to get the darn
thing to work and failed.
I still voted each time, either using my wife to help me or poll workers
from different parties, but I got it done one way or another.
This time I had no problem with using the machine to vote.
My only complaint was one I had with other times that i voted and used the
audio ballot.
It was very slow.  Too slow.
The machine made me have to listen to the entire instruction package over
and over again before it would let me vote in a race.
There still needs to be a way to skip the instructions and go right to the
race and vote.
I just need to listen to what I want to and need to and not to repetitious
instructions.  If I forget, I can always press the "help" button.
It took me almost 40 minutes to vote using the audio ballot, but I did vote
completely independently.
My wife on the other hand had to kill a good half an hour waiting for me to
finish.  It took her less than 5 minutes in the booth.
We can do better and I intend to complain about the audio ballot, again, and
try to work with our supervisor of elections to streamline the audio ballot.

David Evans, NFBF
Member of the Governor's Select Task Force on Voting Access
Florida State (HAVA) Help America Vote Act Planning Committee
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Judy Jones" <nfbwatac at earthlink.net>
To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, November 07, 2006 10:15 PM
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] 2006 Election Marks a New Plateau ofEqualityforthe
Blind

Hi to all,

I just experienced the touch screen system today for the first time and

loved it. When I pressed the little "red circle" button to make my

selections, the voice said with lots of feeling, "You've selected!!" Made

me sound like I'd won a prize.

I was the first one to use the audio in my precinct, and when I arrived they

didn't have the audio hooked up yet and didn't know who to call. I happen

to have the auditor's office on my Braille Lite, so promptly gave it to

them, they called the number, and got everything going.

Best to all.

Judy

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Catherine Close" <cgclose at earthlink.net>
To: "'NFB Talk Mailing List'" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, November 07, 2006 2:13 PM
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] 2006 Election Marks a New Plateau of Equalityforthe
Blind

I am happy to report that I had a great voting experience here in western
Pennsylvania.  I also discovered that the Ivotronics machine must have been
improved because I had more ability to bypass things than was indicated on
the NFB video.  I am past 50 and I was as excited as a kid!!

 It took about fifteen minutes to vote, and it would take much less next
time because I did listen to the instructions once this time just to have
the experience.

I called the NFB hotline to report my positive experience.  At first the
poll workers did say it was faster to just have someone help, but I said no,
I wanted to do it myself, and they were fine with that.  When I was finished
they were as excited as I was.

Cathy

-----Original Message-----
From: nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of David Andrews
Sent: Tuesday, November 07, 2006 1:38 PM
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Subject: [nfb-talk] 2006 Election Marks a New Plateau of Equality forthe
Blind

>
>Reminder - call the NFB at 877-632-1940 on election day if you
>encounter any problems while voting.  Also, included below is an NFB
>press release that was distributed on Friday.
>
>
>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>
>
>
>
>CONTACT:
>
>John G. Paré Jr.
>
>Director of Public Relations
>
>National Federation of the Blind
>
>(410) 659-9314, extension 2371
>
>(410) 913-3912 (Cell)
>
>jpare at nfb.org <mailto:jpare at nfb.org>
>
>
>2006 Election Marks a New Plateau of Equality for the Blind
>
>
>
>
>Baltimore, Maryland (November 3, 2006): In all
>that has been said about the coming election,
>one largely overlooked fact is that the voting
>experience of the blind will be private for the first time in history.
>
>
>
>James Gashel, Executive Director for Strategic
>initiatives at the National Federation of the
>Blind, commented, "I have been voting in every
>single election since 1968, and never once have
>I been able to cast a secret ballot in a general
>or presidential election.  For me, voting was
>never a welcoming experience, but rather
>tension-filled and stressful, as I struggled
>with the numerous restrictions of being a blind
>voter; from the difficulty of finding a person
>to accompany me to the polling area to wondering
>how I would be treated upon arrival."
>
>
>
>Voting, like so many other interactions with the
>printed word in the life of the blind, required
>some assistance from a sighted person, or in
>some cases, several sighted people.  Prior to a
>1982 federal requirement that allowed the blind
>to take a trusted individual of their choosing
>into the voting booth, blind people who showed
>up at the polls unaccompanied by a family member
>or trusted friend had to be watched by at least
>three other people.  A supposedly neutral poll
>worker was needed to mark the blind voter's
>ballot, and one observer from each political
>party went behind the curtain as well to make
>sure the poll worker didn't cheat.  Eileen
>Rivera-Ley, of Baltimore, once commented about
>her time in the voting booth: "It's like a party
>in there."  Obviously, the result of this ritual
>was that the blind voter's ballot was never
>secret, and sometimes revealed to more than one
>person, none of whom the voter knew particularly
>well or had any reason to trust.  And according
>to some blind voters, poll workers and partisan
>election monitors sometimes took the opportunity
>to make a last-minute effort to influence the
>blind voter's decision.  "You're voting for who? Are you sure?"
>
>
>
>The Help America Vote Act, enacted in 2002,
>mandates that each polling place in America have
>at least one voting device that a blind person
>can use without assistance.  Most voting
>machines implement this requirement with an
>audio ballot, which reads each contest to the
>voter, who then makes choices by pushing buttons
>on a keypad instead of touching a screen or
>marking a paper ballot with a pencil.
>
>
>
>The opportunity of every American to a secret
>ballot is not only a matter of individual
>privacy; it is one of the many ways to insulate
>voters from undue influence and to protect the
>entire election process from fraud.  Gashel
>added, "on Tuesday, November 7, for the first
>time ever, I will proudly go to my polling place
>to cast my vote unaccompanied and unassisted,
>with the knowledge that a new plateau in
>equality for the blind has been reached."
>
>
>
>Reminder - call the NFB at 877-632-1940 on
>election day if you encounter any problems while voting.
>
>

David Andrews and white cane Harry.

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