Jesse the K (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jesse_the_k) wrote2010-10-28 02:48 pm
jesse_the_k) wrote2010-10-28 02:48 pm
Entry tags:
Voting Opportunities and Mechanics
There are many things we can do to improve everyone's lives. Voting is not the only thing, but it sure is hell is easy to do. Many have given their health, their peace of mind, and their lives for the right to exercise the franchise. If you're a U.S.an, head on down to the polls in your municipality this coming Tuesday. And while you're there, you might be wondering, "Gee, just how do people with disabilities vote?" As it happens, I know a little about this.
Photo ID: laptop size plastic machine with letter-size screen. Woman using powerchair, wearing purple hat and favorite purple jacket feeds ballot into slot below screen.
One decent result from the G.W.Bush administration was that the voting process must be independently accessible to people with disabilities. Now I can get in, it seemed like a good year to volunteer as a poll worker. I went to the "new election official" training today.
Up front:
1. I wasn't expecting this to happen, so I wasn't taking verbatim notes. I could not swear to any of the following in court; as far as the essential drift, I do believe I'm correct and I heard Elena acknowledge this.
2. I am not hosting a discussion of the political or technical validity/vulnerability of voting machines. (For the record, I support 3b; it works for us in Wisconsin, which used to be an exemplar of clean politics.)
When our trainer, Elena, finished walking us through the various elements of a correctly marked ballot, I raised my hand and said, "And then there's another way to mark the ballot, right, with the accessible voting machine?" Her response was
a) non-verbal eye-roll (I interpreted this as 'yipes, why did she bring this up?')
b) Yes, that's right. The accessible voting machine is challenging and we'll get to that later.
3. Since she never did a decent job, let me tell you a bit about accessible voting. There are two approaches to an accessible voting machine:
a) everybody votes using a machine. then
Make at least one of them work with magnifying software and speech output and single-switch control and the almost-infinite list of assistive tech which we could use to make a mark.
OR
b) everybody marks a paper ballot, then feeds the marked ballot into a vote counter, which is a slightly smart scanner.
Typical people have the ballot-marking tools at the end of their palms. The rest of us have an accessible machine as above in #3a.
OK, back to the end of my training session, where I noted she had never gotten back to the voting machine.
She said the accessible voting machine is very important and everyone must have one working at each polling place. She said they could be used by someone who's blind, or someone who has low vision, or can't read for any reason, or really just anybody who wants to. She also said that they were very fussy mechanically, so they may not work as well as you'd like.
Another student asked what poll workers should do if they thought a voter was being unduly influenced in filling out a ballot. The student said, "This happened around 6 years ago, when someone who, well, frankly, he was just not cognizant enough to be voting. And the person with them was filling out the ballot for them." I said that this could be a good option to use the accessible machine: somebody who can't read could be able to understand the speech.
(FWIW, the "Six years ago this retarded person was influenced in their vote" is a perennial election year rumor. Neurotypical people are quick to define the minimum IQ they'd set for voting, without exploring the profound mismatch between IQ and ability. Absolutely every social justice activist would do well to read Gould's The Mismeasure of Man.)
After the training wrapped up, I said I was disappointed in her presentation of the voting machine. She reiterated they were frustrating and difficult to use. Didn't I realize, she asked, that most poll workers are over 60 and they are not going to be able to understand this computer? (Reality check: Elena is probably between 25-30; 90% of the people in the training were under 55; in all regards it looked a lot like Madison, which made me happy about my city.)
I asked if that meant my rights as a voter were also frustrating her? How would she feel if I said that permitting her to vote was too difficult? The penny dropped, and she began to apologize for "not presenting in the most effective manner."
I poked my State-level disability rights public-interest lawyer on my willingness to be a secret shopper. Wisconsin recently settled a suit on this issue -- damn, sometimes it takes a blow to the head to teach folks!
(How do I know it's her favorite jacket? I modeled for the photo.)
Photo ID: laptop size plastic machine with letter-size screen. Woman using powerchair, wearing purple hat and favorite purple jacket feeds ballot into slot below screen.One decent result from the G.W.Bush administration was that the voting process must be independently accessible to people with disabilities. Now I can get in, it seemed like a good year to volunteer as a poll worker. I went to the "new election official" training today.
Up front:
1. I wasn't expecting this to happen, so I wasn't taking verbatim notes. I could not swear to any of the following in court; as far as the essential drift, I do believe I'm correct and I heard Elena acknowledge this.
2. I am not hosting a discussion of the political or technical validity/vulnerability of voting machines. (For the record, I support 3b; it works for us in Wisconsin, which used to be an exemplar of clean politics.)
When our trainer, Elena, finished walking us through the various elements of a correctly marked ballot, I raised my hand and said, "And then there's another way to mark the ballot, right, with the accessible voting machine?" Her response was
a) non-verbal eye-roll (I interpreted this as 'yipes, why did she bring this up?')
b) Yes, that's right. The accessible voting machine is challenging and we'll get to that later.
3. Since she never did a decent job, let me tell you a bit about accessible voting. There are two approaches to an accessible voting machine:
a) everybody votes using a machine. then
Make at least one of them work with magnifying software and speech output and single-switch control and the almost-infinite list of assistive tech which we could use to make a mark.
OR
b) everybody marks a paper ballot, then feeds the marked ballot into a vote counter, which is a slightly smart scanner.
Typical people have the ballot-marking tools at the end of their palms. The rest of us have an accessible machine as above in #3a.
OK, back to the end of my training session, where I noted she had never gotten back to the voting machine.
She said the accessible voting machine is very important and everyone must have one working at each polling place. She said they could be used by someone who's blind, or someone who has low vision, or can't read for any reason, or really just anybody who wants to. She also said that they were very fussy mechanically, so they may not work as well as you'd like.
Another student asked what poll workers should do if they thought a voter was being unduly influenced in filling out a ballot. The student said, "This happened around 6 years ago, when someone who, well, frankly, he was just not cognizant enough to be voting. And the person with them was filling out the ballot for them." I said that this could be a good option to use the accessible machine: somebody who can't read could be able to understand the speech.
(FWIW, the "Six years ago this retarded person was influenced in their vote" is a perennial election year rumor. Neurotypical people are quick to define the minimum IQ they'd set for voting, without exploring the profound mismatch between IQ and ability. Absolutely every social justice activist would do well to read Gould's The Mismeasure of Man.)
After the training wrapped up, I said I was disappointed in her presentation of the voting machine. She reiterated they were frustrating and difficult to use. Didn't I realize, she asked, that most poll workers are over 60 and they are not going to be able to understand this computer? (Reality check: Elena is probably between 25-30; 90% of the people in the training were under 55; in all regards it looked a lot like Madison, which made me happy about my city.)
I asked if that meant my rights as a voter were also frustrating her? How would she feel if I said that permitting her to vote was too difficult? The penny dropped, and she began to apologize for "not presenting in the most effective manner."
I poked my State-level disability rights public-interest lawyer on my willingness to be a secret shopper. Wisconsin recently settled a suit on this issue -- damn, sometimes it takes a blow to the head to teach folks!
(How do I know it's her favorite jacket? I modeled for the photo.)
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