[Nfbofnc] Urgent! Input on Accessible Voting Machines

[Gary H. Ray]

All:

It has come to my attention that urgent action is needed by the close of
business on Friday, September 30, 2005.  Our window is pretty small, but
this is important.

Most of us who have trouble seeing have been following the Help America Vote
Act (HAVA) process.  The Federal government stated that all Americans should
be able to vote independently.  Very few of the existing voting machines are
accessible.  The Federal government allocated a pile of money to help states
get accessible voting equipment.

Here in NC, our legislature said that any new voting equipment had to have a
paper backup.

There is a tremendous amount of disagreement on what the various Boards of
Elections across the state need to buy.  The State Board of Elections is
getting ready to release a list of equipment that is approved for the local
folks to buy.

Many of us in the blind community are nervous because we have not felt
included in the process of deciding what NC will do.  We are afraid that
decisions will be made that will keep us from achieving the goals of HAVA.

We need to send the State Board of Elections feedback on what we think they
should do.

Email feedback needs to go to:
elections.sboe at ncmail.net

We need to tell these folks what we think they need to do.  Yeah, yeah, I
know that I have not given you enough info to know what to say.  I will
insert things I have gotten from lots of folks today in the message below.
I will separate the items with a line of ***********

The first item is the notification of the comment period.  Then, I am
inserting an article that talks about the voting issue  Dottie Neely of
Greensboro is featured in this article. At the very bottom, I am putting my
opinion.

I would like to thank Dottie Neely for bringing all of this to our
attention.  Salute Dottie!

gary ray

**********************************************

To: All Interested Parties
From: Johnnie McLean
Deputy Director, Administration
North Carolina State Board of Elections

As mandated by Session Law 2005-323 (Senate Bill 223), the North Carolina
State Board of Elections is developing a Request For Proposal (RFP) for the
certification of voting equipment that will be purchased by the counties.
This RFP will insure that all voting systems certified for use in the State
meet the requirements of the 2002 Federal Voting System Standards, the Help
America Vote Act of 2002, EAC guidelines, and North Carolina General
Statutes Chapter 163, as well as any other rules adopted by the State Board
of Elections.  We invite all interested parties to submit written comments
and/or suggestions for any additional requirements or features not already
covered by the aforementioned, to be considered by the State Board.  Please
send responses to the following:

Via email- send to elections.sboe at ncmail.net

Via FAX - send to (919) 715-0135

Via regular mail- send to 
North Carolina State Board of Elections
PO Box 27255
Raleigh, NC  27603

*****************************************************

This is an article that ran in a local Greensboro publication:

Blind voters don't see eye to eye with election officials
	
	 by Amy Kingsley

	
	When Dottie Neely, a visually-impaired community activist, went to
the polls in 2004, she encountered Direct Record Electronic voting machines
ill equipped to handle her needs. None of the machines in her polling place,
or the entire county, included a headphone jack allowing her to follow audio
commands. Instead, poll workers moved a machine out of its dark but private
carrel so Neely, who is not completely blind, could press her face close to
the screen and vote independently.
	
	Despite the hassle, it was the first time the 42-year-old social
worker, who has never missed an election, cast her own ballot. Her past
voting experiences included assisted voting under the watchful eyes of three
poll workers. But Neely still sees room for improvement, and is working to
represent the needs of other visually impaired voters.
	
	Guilford County has used Direct Record Electronic, also known as
touch screen, voting machines for 17 years and currently uses the Votronic
system. Touch screen machines allow voters to choose candidates from a
series of menus similar to a bank's automated teller machine. The machines
in Guilford County do not produce a paper record of the vote.
	
	"Since the Help America Vote Act was passed, we have been trying to
get some blind people on [the state elections board]," Neely said. "They
have not wanted that input."
	
	HAVA, which was passed in 2002 after the 2000 election debacle,
required states to replace punch card and lever voting machines. In North
Carolina, state election officials are requiring all voting machines to
produce a paper backup. In addition, all polling places in the state must be
accessible to voters with physical disabilities - including visual
impairment - by the 2006 federal election.
	
	All 50 states developed plans for the implementation of HAVA. The
North Carolina plan featured a checklist of law requirements and whether the
state complied in 2002. The state did not meet any of the accessibility
requirements at that time.
	
	As of 2002, about one third of North Carolina counties used DRE
voting and one half used optical scan ballots. Voters using optical scan
ballots must fill in the blank next to their chosen candidate and feed the
ballot into a scanning machine. Although this system includes a built-in
paper backup, the state board and most counties prefer DRE voting.
	
	"Braille ballots are not practical because it is very time consuming
and expensive to produce them," said Don Wright, general counsel for the
North Carolina State Board of Elections. Only one county in Oregon and the
state of Rhode Island bother to produce Braille ballots at all, Wright said.
	
	Instead, he plugged touch screen voting as an accessible system for
the visually impaired. Machines like Guilford County's Votronics can be
easily upgraded with headphone jacks. Now, under the looming deadline
imposed by HAVA, the state's machines must not only be outfitted with
headphone jacks, they must also feature a paper record. And that is where
George Gilbert, the director of the Guilford County Board of Elections, and
Neely disagreed on the best equipment for the job.
	
	Gilbert staunchly defended the accuracy and reliability of touch
screen voting machines and questioned the paper backup requirement. One
solution for HAVA compliance submitted by Gilbert involves replacing all of
the county's machines with newer models that record votes on a paper reel.
The cost of the overhaul might run as high as $9 million in Gilbert's
estimation.
	
	Neely expressed concerns over the reliability of the reel machines
and the confidentiality of votes recorded in sequential order on the paper
record. She has used a variety of machines aimed at providing access for the
disabled and settled on the Automark machine as the user-friendliest model.
Unlike Gilbert's preferred model, the Automark relies on the old technology
of optical scan ballots.
	
	Automark machines combine the technology of optical scan ballots and
touch screen voting. Voters insert the ballot into the machine, which then
allows the voter to select their candidates through a series of audio cues.
The machine then marks the ballot for the voter, who can reinsert the
finished product to check for accuracy.
	
	About 19 percent of North Carolina residents have a disability,
according to statistics from the State Division of Vocational Rehabilitation
and the State Division of Services for the Blind. That includes almost half
a million voters statewide. People with disabilities are 20 percent less
likely to vote than the rest of the population, according to a Rutgers
University study.
	
	Election officials have made great strides in opening polling places
to wheelchair-bound voters. New rules regarding parking and building
construction, along with digital images of every voting site, have increased
accessibility. In addition, the state board produced a video to train poll
workers about disabled voters that is used across the country.
	
	The cost to replace Guilford County's touch screen machines with
optical scan ballots might be as low as $2 million. The state will provide
grants to all 100 counties totaling $40-50 million to cover some of the cost
of upgrading voting systems. Taxpayers must pick up the part of the tab not
paid by state funds.
	
	Gilbert contended that optical scan systems cost more in the long
run because the physical ballots must be replaced every year and they
require more staff members. Besides, touch screen voting is the most
accurate system available, he said.
	
	Problems in Carteret County, where touch screen machines lost 4,400
votes, resulted from human error, Gilbert said. Voting fraud has also
existed since the introduction of the first paper ballot, he added.
	
	"I've talked to my friends in Jackson County," Gilbert said. "Every
so often when they dredge the lake they come up with an old ballot box."
	
	Despite all of the wrangling over what kind o! f technology Guilford
County voters will use in 2006, no decision can be made until the state
board approves a list of voting machines. Once that happens, Gilbert has
invited Neely to participate in the final decision for Guilford County. The
state board has not made such an overture toward visually-impaired voters,
Neely said.
	
	That said, blind voters are not waiting until the final decision is
made to express their dissatisfaction with Guilford County's machines and
their preferences for the future. Groups have raised the issue at Guilford
County Board of Commissioners meetings and in person at the board of
elections. But one of Neely's most immediate concerns is simply the lack of
a list of approved machines three years after the passage of HAVA.
	
	"If things don't change," she said, "disabled people are going to be
without any prayer of being able to cast a real ballot."
	
	To comment on this story, e-mail Amy Kingsley at amy at yesweekly.ccm

************************************

I live in Wake County.  We use the Optical Scan system. You have to mark a
paper ballot and run it through a scanner in order to have your ballot
counted.  This sort of system seems to have the biggest concentration across
NC.

I had the opportunity to use the Automark machine at the NFB of NC State
Convention in 2004.  I was able to use it easily.  It allowed me to create a
paper ballot that could then be run through the scanner.

At the National NFB convention in July 2004, I was able to test one of the
computer-based systems.  I did NOT like it as well as the Automark.  I
really think that the Automark could be incorporated into many of our
precincts without having to buy all new equipment.

I will be commenting that I think the Automark machine needs to be the way
to go in NC. 

I think the system is cheaper in the long run for the tax payers.

No matter what you think, it is important to send along your views.

gary ray