[nfb-talk] 2006 Election Marks aNewPlateauofEqualityfortheBlind

Thu Nov 9 13:39:26 CST 2006

We used the Dibold machines here in Arizona, and the instructions were
straight-forward: use the pound key to speed up and the star key to slow
down. You can interrupt the reading at any time by pressing number 6 key,
so you can by-pass the reading and go to the next field to mark your
option. Yet despite the by-passing and rate at full speed, it took a good
40 minutes to complete the ballot. As you must have heard, Arizona had 19
propositions this year, with an additional one for Pima Countey (Tucson); I
did my homework and read the propositions beforehand and prepared a braille
sample to take with me; that helped.

The only drawback I see is the amount of verbosity, which can be reduced
for more efficiency. For each item, you hear the sentence "This category
has been fully voted; you have voted ...". This is repeated before every
category. Perhaps there is a way to eliminate redundancies and cut down on
voting time. But despite this minor inconvenience, I think it was wonderful
to be able to vote privately and independently for the first time.

Samira

At 12:01 PM 11/9/06 -0500, you wrote:
>
>Dear Judy,
>
>There was no speed control on mine,
>The problem was the way the ballot was constructed and programmed.
>It just would not let you jump ahead easily.
>I do understand this as most people using the darn thing are not younger 
>computer savvy users, but older senior citizens who are scare to hell of the 
>contraption.
>They need to go little slower for them, but it makes voting take allot 
>longer than it should.
>I will work with the Supervisor of Elections to try to fix it before the 
>next elections.
>He missed his chance to hire me last year, so I took the job with MV Transit 
>instead.
>
>David Evans, NFBF
>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "dmgina" <dmgina at qwest.net>
>To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
>Sent: Wednesday, November 08, 2006 9:10 PM
>Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] 2006 Election Marks aNewPlateauofEqualityforthe 
>Blind
>
>
>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
>To: blindtlk at nfbnet.org; nfb-talk at nfbnet.org; nfb-announce at nfbnet.org;
>blindlaw at nfbnet.org; nabs-l at nfbnet.org; rehab at nfbnet.org;
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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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Samira Farwaneh
Assistant Professor, Arabic Language and Linguistics
Department of Near Eastern Studies
Department of Linguistics
Second Language Acquisition and Teaching Program
Louise Foucar Marshall Building
845 N Park Avenue, Room 440
PO BOX 210158B
University of Arizona
Tucson, Arizona  85721-0158B
Phone: (520) 621-8629 Or 621-8012
Fax: (520) 621-2333