Ok, get ready for another Rant, and this one's pretty serious! I'm going to discuss the issue of the voting rights of people with disabilities. In many places around our Great Nation, people with disabilities cannot exercise their right to take part in the political process because either polling places are inaccessible to those who use wheelchairs, or voting machines are inaccessible to people who are blind, illiterate, or those who have limited use of their hands.
Everyone has the right, indeed, the duty to vote, and to let one's voice be heard, yet every election cycle, people with disabilities, along with African Americans and other minorities, are disenfranchised without a thought. People with disabilities are often complained to about how much it would cost to make a polling place accessible, or how much it would cost to purchase accessible voting machines. We are often advised to cast our vote by absentee ballot. While this may be convenient for those who are homebound, the vast majority of folks with disabilities prefer to go to a polling place to cast their vote. There is something empowering about publicly casting one's vote! Furthermore, disabled Americans are guaranteed the right to vote under both the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). Under the ADA, all public places, particularly those receiving federal funds, must be accessible to persons who use wheelchairs, while under HAVA, every polling place must have at least one accessible voting machine by 2006.
There is now a movement afoot that is threatening the voting rights of those with disabilities. A group of people, led by Dr. David Dill, of Stanford University, contends that the type of voting machine that is accessible to people with disabilities, a type of touch screen voting machine, is unsafe because they feel that someone can hack into the software that the machine uses in order to rig, or steal an election. They feel that the electronic forms of verification that these machines now use is unreliable, and that paper ballots must be used for verification purposes. They are pushing for the requirement that all electronic voting machines be fitted with what is known as a Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail, or VVPAT. This would undo the accessibility features of an electronic voting machine, because now, you would have a paper ballot that you would have to read to verify your vote. This would mean that people who are blind, or can't read would require assistance, thus taking away their right to a secret, and independent vote. Because of their work, 8 California counties, and two states (Illinois and New Hampshire) have delayed the purchase of touch screen voting machines. In fact, California recently decertified all of their touch screen voting machines!
I attended a conference last year, where Dr. Dill was speaking, and tried to explain to him, and to his colleagues that the touch screen machines afforded a voter with a disability the right to unassisted, private voting. I told of my experience as an election judge, how I had witnessed the intimidation and harassment of disabled voters who needed assistance by other election judges. These people would either cast the vote of their choice, rather than the voter's, or coerce a disabled voter into changing their vote. I marveled at how concerned they were about voter fraud, and election rigging involving touch machines, yet, how blissfully unconcerned they were with the abuse and disenfranchisement of disabled voters. I told them that they were using theories to snatch away our rights; no one has rigged an election using electronic voting machines.
I am positive that what I had to say left no impression on them, so, I have decided to work with the American Association of People with Disabilities on getting the word out about the danger that this group poses to voters with disabilities. Fortunately, due to the work of ADAPT, the vast majority of polling places in the Denver Metro area are accessible. The election judge training center is accessible, and others with disabilities have also served as election judges. The Atlantis/ADAPT office is now a polling place! It is a shame that after moving so far foward in the area of voting rights for people with disabilities, that we have now begun to move backwards.
Learn
more about AAPD's Disability
Vote Project
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