[nfb-talk] 2006 Election Marks aNewPlateauofEqualityforthe Blind

David Evans drevans at bellsouth.net
Thu Nov 9 13:58:11 CST 2006 

Dear Steve,

I am well aware of the various voting machines and how they work for the 
most part as I served a Governor's appointment to the Select Task Force on 
Voting Access and the Florida (HAVA) State Planning Committee.
All I am saying is that they could have done a better job on streamlining 
the audio Ballot in the Sequoia voting machines we now use here in Palm 
Beach County, which is also known for it's beautiful "butterflies" and Chad 
plants.
I will just go back to the Supervisor to see if we can do a better job next 
time.
It just took far longer than it had to.
I know Dr. Author Anderson well enough that I can talk to him about it.
He knows how I feel about it already.
If he could have just figured out how he could have paid me last year, when 
we only had a few city elections to do, I would have stayed with him on 
Staff.  Instead I was offered a job with MV Transit because of my 20 years 
of Transit knowledge and went to work for them.

It is a gripe more than just a complaint as I know we can do better.

David Evans, NFBF
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Jacobson" <steve.jacobson at visi.com>
To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, November 09, 2006 1:27 PM
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] 2006 Election Marks aNewPlateauofEqualityforthe 
Blind


> Dave,
>
>>From your description, it is hard to be certain exactly what the problem 
>>consists of.  If you feel that you can get results by working through the 
>>supervisor, it might be
> worth a try, but it is also possible that the problem needs to be 
> approached at the voting machine level.  Whatever your county is doing 
> with the programming to
> cause the problem, it is probably safe to assume that another county is 
> probably doing the same thing.  In many cases, the programming is actually 
> done by the
> company who developed the machine, charging a fee for that service. 
> Sometimes the programming is accomplished through a link with the 
> equipment that counts
> the votes or to the files used to print the ballots.  Therefore, the place 
> where the problem should be addressed is not clear.  To add to this, some 
> states have it in
> their regulations, at what level I am not sure, that the voter must be 
> alerted if they have under-voted in an election.  while one assumes this 
> might mean that you are
> notified if you could vote for three but only voted for two, it can also 
> be interpreted to mean that if you could have voted for one but voted for 
> nobody that you under-
> voted.  This warning makes it inconvenient, at times, to skip a series of 
> contests, but the programmer may have believed the warning was necessary 
> to meet
> regulations.
>
> Finally, I think it is reasonable for us to realize that these machines 
> are just not going to work as nicely as do many tasks we perform on a 
> computer.  We are going to
> have to consider which things must be changed and what we can live with 
> given that elections are not something we do every day.  This is not to 
> say that we
> shouldn't complain, and since I don't understand the details of your 
> complaint I am not trying to judge, but am simply trying to make some 
> general points.  In general,
> the Automark machine used here in Minnesota skipped ahead to the next 
> contest fairly well.  We could, however, use the ability to be able to 
> skip to different groups
> of candidates.  However, I wonder if such a feature would be that valuable 
> since there are cases where one might debate what defines a group.  I'm 
> just not sure it
> is worth it for something that I do once or twice a year.  It's going to 
> be a judgment call, obviously, and I raise these issues in case they are 
> relevant, not to say that
> you don't have a valid complaint.  As someone who is interested in this 
> issue, I would be interested to better understand what sort of problem you 
> are addressing.
> Also, what type of machine is being used?
>
> On Thu, 9 Nov 2006 12:01:22 -0500, David Evans 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;
>>teachvib at nfbnet.org; nobe-l at nfbnet.org; blparent at nfbnet.org;
>>blindkid at nfbnet.org; napub at nfbnet.org; nabop at nfbnet.org; nfbcs at nfbnet.org;
>>gui-talk at nfbnet.org; electronics-talk at nfbnet.org; nagdu at nfbnet.org;
>>nyagdu at nfbnet.org; nabentre at nfbnet.org; nfb-db at nfbnet.org; 
>>nosb at nfbnet.org;
>>nfbpnotk at nfbnet.org; promotion-technology at nfbnet.org;
>>journalists at nfbnet.org; nfb-science at nfbnet.org; musictlk at nfbnet.org;
>>nfb-cars at nfbnet.org; nfbf-l at nfbnet.org; 4alabama at nfbnet.org;
>>tn-talk at nfbnet.org; nfbofnc at nfbnet.org; greater-baltimore at nfbnet.org;
>>la-students at nfbnet.org; oabs at nfbnet.org; il-talk at nfbnet.org;
>>iabs-talk at nfbnet.org; nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org; mi-abs at nfbnet.org;
>>mn-abs at nfbnet.org; mt-blind at nfbnet.org; nfb-idaho at nfbnet.org;
>>nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org; nfb-hi at nfbnet.org; cabs-talk at nfbnet.org;
>>arizona-students at nfbnet.org; nfbc-info at nfbnet.org; nfbsf at nfbnet.org;
>>nfb-river-city at nfbnet.org; nfb-reno-l at nfbnet.org;
>>nebraska-students at nfbnet.org; nfbmo at nfbnet.org; mabs at nfbnet.org;
>>colorado-talk at nfbnet.org; ccb-alumni at nfbnet.org;
>>nfb-newsline-sponsors at nfbnet.org
>>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. Par, 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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>
>
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