Voters With Disabilities Feel Left Behind by Paper Ballot Push

[brooklynite]

Pew Research

Here’s how voting should work for blind voters like Ruth Sager: She walks into her polling place in Pikesville, Maryland, tells poll workers she wants to vote on an electronic voting machine instead of a paper ballot, and is handed a card she can place in the machine to begin voting.

Using headphones, the 68-year-old listens to the choices in the various contests and, with a hand-held controller, makes selections by pressing a raised arrow and buttons in other shapes. The digital narrator confirms every selection before the machine prints a paper record of her finished ballot that she gives to poll workers.

But that’s not what happened when Sager, a retired rehabilitation program instructor for the blind, tried to vote in the 2018 midterm elections.

When she arrived at her Baltimore-area polling place, the only electronic voting machine in the precinct was not working. The only thing officials could offer her was to have two election judges — one serving as a witness — walk her through the paper ballot, reading every option aloud and marking her choices for her.

Not only did the poll worker have trouble pronouncing names and often skip party affiliations and candidates in crowded races, Sager said, but it was a complete violation of her privacy.

[Botany]

1. Made up bull shit story in order to stop paper ballots

Very easy fixes to this problem.

[brooklynite]

3. You're saying the Pew Research Center wants to rig elections?

There's a new conspiracy theory every minute.

[Botany]

6. "There's a new conspiracy theory every minute."

Such as the blind will not be able to vote w/out electronic machines?

[brooklynite]

13. The blind will not be able to vote secretly...

Perhaps they should just suck it up?

[Botany]

14. Ever heard of braille?

n/t

[brooklynite]

15. You can speak authoritatively about how easy it is to put Braille on a ballot?

[not_the_one]

16. So What.

Secrecy is how the rig is set.

If you are ashamed of who you are voting for, maybe you shouldn't be voting.

We may HAVE to identify who we voted for in order to ensure an accurate vote.

Or is the too much for democracy to bear?

[brooklynite]

17. Certainly makes it easier for your boss to know if you voted the "right" way...

...why do you think the Australian Ballot was adopted in 1884...

[Ms. Toad]

18. Wow.

'sok. You're blind. Your right to privacy while you vote doesn't matter.

Ever hear of the ADA?

I can't believe I'm reading this crap on a progressive website. Everyone is entitled to a private ballot. Period. Not only that, but a private ballot is essential to a ensuring uncoerced voting.

[not_the_one]

21. i note your concern

hey, we're a big tent.

As long as things are done in secret, shit happens. Votes are changed. Deals are made that are detrimental to the people. Why do you think people were so upset by decisions being made in "smoke-filled back rooms" (even elections being decided)?

I also don't think there should be any "closed hearings" of any kind. Those are our hearings, and we are paying for them. I don't think the military's actions and needs should be dealt with, all behind closed doors. We are paying for THAT, too. War maneuvers, yes, but we should know WHAT we are paying for.

We are now in a culture that as soon as you walk out the door, you should ASSUME that you are on camera. Again, SO WHAT, unless..... Privacy is so passe'. People can't wait to post nudies and dick pics on their phones to complete strangers. We left that threshold far behind.

Anyone who is retaliated against because of their vote, the ACLU will be delighted to take your case.

And anyone with a disability can have a helper with them, to vote.

As far as my "crap" here on this progressive website, I have good days, and bad days. Either way, I am sure I offend someone. I, myself, am offended by a lot of what passes as "progressive" thought, these days...

[Ms. Toad]

23. You're missing the two big points.

It is illegal (and offensive) to require people with disabilities that can be accommodated to depend on a "helper," to whom theri vote is disclosed. Pure and simple.

As for privacy, how individuals vote is private information. That is very different than whatever general concerns you may have about privacy. I'm not sure there would be a case for the ACLU to take regarding voter retaliation - political affiliation is not a protected class. One of the reasons the vote is - and needs to remain - private. If no one can prove who they voted for (or didn't vote for), votes cannot be coerced. The ACLU most certainly would have a case for individuals with disabilities whose privacy rights in their votes are treated as expendable - as well as for required public disclosure of votes.

[ZZenith]

4. Exactly.

Why would a person propagate this bullshit? Electronic voting machines have been proven so extremely unreliable that the existence of our democracy requires their abolishment.

[Botany]

9. Ever hear the story that wind turbines will kill all the eagles.

n/t

[ZZenith]

12. Because eagles LOVE coal-fired electric generators!

Methinks the wealthy really like the electronic voting machines because they so deftly maintain the illusion of democracy without having to suffer the consequences of actual democracy.

[GoCubsGo]

5. Yep, it's not an "either/or" proposition.

Electronic machines are fine when they print out a paper receipt, and the receipt is what gets counted.

[Botany]

8. I have done election protection/voter work for years this doesn't even begin to pass the smell test

n/t

[Hermit-The-Prog]

2. machines should be available to assist

A machine should mark a ballot for her in ink and Braille.

Equal protection under the law.

[Ms. Toad]

19. Yes. It is not a touch screen v. paper ballot problem

It is a jurisdicitons without funcitoning equipment issue. Most touch-screen districts accommodate blind/limited upper body use by using a paper ballot printer that reads the candidates and selections to the voter, accepts the selections, and prints a paper ballot. That allows the voter to vote without sacrificing their privacy.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

20. and Emacspeak has been around since around the birth of the Internet

It's not like there's no software to accommodate the blind. Any old computer running Emacspeak with a printer would be better than having 2 election judges invading a voter's privacy.

http://emacspeak.sourceforge.net/

[The Wielding Truth]

7. How did the blind vote before electronic voting machines?

[912gdm]

22. that's what I was thinking.

[GoCubsGo]

10. Do the authors not realize they are making the point of those pushing for paper ballots?

One of the main reasons for the push is that the machines break down and are unreliable. That goes for EVERYBODY who uses them, not just the disabled. My state uses some shitty, antiquated electronic things, and I don't even know if my votes get counted half the time. I have to practically hammer on the touch screen to get my choices to register. It's ridiculous. And, I'm not disabled. Imagine what it's like for those who are.

[lunatica]

11. Oh for fuck's sake!

Now blind people are victimized by Democrats working for valid elections?!

Give me a break!

[RhodeIslandOne]

24. The story is based on a false premise

The problem is the electronic machine was not working, not that someone is "pushing paper ballots".

But it's cool. Let's keep the facade going. This is the shit Moscow Mitch lives for.