EAC - Voluntary Voting System Guidelines

Name : | Barbara Crozier
Organization : | N/A
Post Date : | 9/30/2005
Section Comments
Section : | 2.2.7.1
Page no. : |
Line no.: |
Comment : | Thank you for the opportunity to comment. I am Barbara Crozier. My home address is 5731 Oakwild Drive, Montgomery, AL 36117-2917. My telephone at work (Governor's Office On Disability or GOOD) is (334) 353-0353 and at home after 6:00 CST is (334) 277-0575. I am speaking for myself as an individual voter in the complex elections process, but I advocate for the active participation and inclusion of all people with disabilities as a fundamental civil right. When I first voted in Tallapoosa County years ago, the county used the old lever type machines. I use a power wheelchair for mobility and my reach is very limited because of polio quadriparesis. Unfortunately, I was only able to reach the lower half of the levers. Wanting my vote to be private, I did not want a poll worker to assist me. They smiled or chuckled, talked down to me and patted me on the shoulder. As a human being, I felt devalued by the process. After I moved to Montgomery in 1981, the city purchased new touchpad voting machines that could be tilted and lowered for someone using a wheelchair or for others who could not reach the screens. Initially, the poll worker who assisted me, would not allow my husband to enter the curtained area of the machine with me to make sure that I could reach it. Poll worker training is pathetic at best. I politely asked her if she was aware of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which allowed me to have the person of my choosing in the booth with me. I also told her that I did not even trust my husband to touch the screen for me because we were not always politically aligned on candidates or issues. At that point, my husband entered the curtained area with me, checked out my reach access, then left me to cast my ballot. The top of the screen was still out of my reach, but I actually voted alone for the first time in my life. I felt a real sense of empowerment. One thing still bothers me. At each election, the poll workers who assist me by lowering the screen always seem to cause an unnecessary flurry of confused activity which spotlights my actions in the voting process. I would like to be able to just roll into a private booth, cast my vote and leave. I want to be a visible, involved citizen at each election, which is why I will not vote by absentee ballot. However, I do not want to be a spectacle; that makes me feel far too "special." On September 22, 2005, I drove to Selma, Alabama, to view several "accessible voting machines" that were made available to a low vision conference. My friend, who uses a sip and puff power chair because of high-level quadriplegia, also went to test the machines. I could operate only two of the machines, and I didn't like one of those because the DRE representative had to insert the card for me. Reach limitations were still an issue on the other machines. I was appalled that none of the DRE suppliers had sanitary, disposable sip and puff attachments available for someone to try, and several of these "accessible machines" did not even offer that a sip and puff feature for purchase by local governments. I felt the irony of being in Selma and crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge, famous for the Voting Rights March which changed the nation. If states and local governments are going to get HAVA funds, they should be forced to provide equipment that is accessible to everyone. When the HAVA Committee was established in Alabama, a number of individuals with disabilities were asked to participate. However, when the real HAVA subcommittes were formed, there were no individuals with disabilities appointed. This was a mistake. It has been made painfully obvious that local elections officials still have all the power and they control who has access to the voting process: from registration, choosing a polling place, parking and entry, education of poll workers to eliminate patronizing people with disabilities, casting an independent and private vote, and reviewing the ballot. If the current guidelines do not mandate timelines and access at every step of the elections process, people with disabilities will certainly be disenfranchised in Alabama. We have learned about civil rights from the best teachers. Please, do not make us march!