August, 2003
There are definitely some times when being a person with a disability gets a little old, like when my foot starts to fall asleep in my brace and uncontrollable leg spasms cause me to kick my co-workers chairs during a meeting. Sorry guys. Or when I'm trying to plan my transportation to an event, and it ends up that there is no way I'm going to get there without some kind of act of God. For all the improvements that have been made in public transportation in the tri-county area, there are still places around here where you will commonly hear the phrase, You can't get there from here. Oh well, transportation is a subject for another column. There is one area however, where the disability experience does seem to be getting some attention.
Voting accessibility keeps coming up again and again as a hot issue for people with disabilities. In these days of budget unrest, and recall elections it is no wonder. Everyone is wondering what the solution is...will it help our State to recall the Governor or would a recall be a very serious, very expensive mistake? Whatever your opinion on this issue, you will soon have the opportunity to express it. Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante recently announced that October 7th all Californians would have the opportunity to make their voice heard on this issue.
In recent years, several advances have been made toward including people with disabilities among "all" Californians as it relates to voting accessibility. The federal Help America Vote Act requires that voting systems provide individuals with disabilities "the same opportunity for access and participation as other voters" and mandates that at least one voting machine at each polling site be accessible. California Assembly Bill 2525 (Jackson), Chapter 950, Statutes of 2002 requires that blind voters be provided "access that is equivalent to individuals who are not blind." Despite these positive steps, there is still a long way to go before people with disabilities have equal access to the political process.
The current controversy swirls around whether or not there should be a requirement for something called an Individualized Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail...Hmmm...Individualized Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail...say that five times fast. Okay, Okay, I said I'd write a column, I never said I'd be mature. The disability community has widely endorsed the use of touch screen voting machines, otherwise known as Direct Recording Electronics (DRE) equipment as the most accessible method of ensuring that people with disabilities can cast their ballot independently and in private. The machines can be adjusted to meet the needs of people with a variety of disabilities, including people who are visually impaired or blind.
Some have questioned the security of touch screen voting machines, stating that since these machines are computerized they are vulnerable to software discrepancies or the introduction of malicious code (that's sexy techie talk for viruses). The solution they say is the Individualized Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail, basically a paper receipt that would show how each person voted. What's the problem with that, you ask? The problem is that paper verification would require that the ballot of a blind or visually impaired person would have to be read aloud, and if paper must be added to the machines, they will be set up too high to be accessible to people with other types of disabilities. Hence, no secret ballot, and no access.
To make this even more complicated, California is fast approaching its deadline to remove all punch card voting machines and purchase DRE equipment. If the Secretary of State approves the use of a voter verified paper ballot at this point, counties will be forced to use another type of machine called an optical scan machine that requires vision, and manual dexterity to operate. Once again, being a person with a disability gets a little old. Common sense would dictate that people with disabilities have just as much right to vote as anyone, and they should have access to the equipment that makes that possible, without paper receipts or any other barriers. But, common sense, does not always reign, especially in these political times. To learn more about voter verified paper ballots go to http://www.verifiedvoting.org/.