This is very interesting, Steve, especially in light of the fact that I had
just asked the Missouri affiliate of the NFB if any provisions have been made
for voters who are blind in Missouri only last week. I was told that indeed
none had been made. Wasn’t too surprised by that that response. The NFB down
here wants to spend a lot of time congratulating itself for not doing very much
at all. The Missouri Council of the Blind is a much stronger organization then
is the Federation in Missouri Fred Olver
Sent from my iPhone
On Jun 30, 2020, at 9:12 AM, Steve <pipeguy920@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I spoke with my local clerk last week, and applied for a primary ballot. I'd
requested to get the UCAVA overseas ballot that can be completed on-line.
What I got was a .pdf atta chment, which at a very early glance, seems to be
accessible. However, you have to have access to a printer to print out the
ballot; then you are supposed to put it in an envelope and sign the back of
that envelope, then deliver or send the printed ballot back to the clerk.
Not quite as secret as I'd like, since there is no internal sleeve that would
hide the ballot.
Steve
NFB of Michigan Sues Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Elections
Director Brater for Contempt of Court in Not Making Accessible Ballot in Time
for Primary Election
Attorneys for blind Michigan residents are asking a federal judge to find
Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Michigan Director of Elections Jonathan
Brater and their attorneys to be in contempt of court. Blind residents
Michael Powell and Fred Wurtzel, the current and former president of the
Michigan Affiliate of the National Federation of the Blind, filed a lawsuit
on April 25 , which resulted in all parties entering into a court-enforced
consent agreement on May 19. "
The agreement required the state to introduce a remote accessible
vote-by-mail (RAVBM) system for the August 2020 election, which would allow
blind voters to cast an absentee ballot privately and independently, in the
same manner as non-disabled voters," The lawsuit followed the lead of other
states who have implemented such systems to ensure the blind are not excluded
from the democratic process. "
"It has now come to light that Secretary Benson failed to take any steps to
implement the RAVBM system in time for August, violating the agreement
entered into by the parties and threatening to disenfranchise blind voters."
A status update submitted at 6:40 p.m. Monday by the Attorney General's
Office on behalf of Benson and Brater blamed "bureaucracy that slowed the bid
process to purchase a new remote voting system and the COVID-19 crisis for
its inability to comply."
The lawsuit claimed the state's push for absentee voting amid the coronavirus
pandemic neglected to provide absentee options to blind voters. The consent
agreement, signed by attorneys for both sides, required the state to notify
the lawsuit plaintiffs if they were unable to secure a remote voting system
by June 29.
Attorneys Jason M. Turkish of the Southfield-based Nyman Turkish law firm and
Eve Hill of the Brown, Goldstein and Levy law firm in Baltimore, Maryland,
filed a motion on Monday, June 29 requesting the judge find Benson, Brater,
as well as their attorneys, Heather S. Meingast and Erik A. Grill, both
employees of Attorney General Dana Nessel's office, in contempt of court.
"Defendants have not made a good faith effort to comply with the consent
decree, and in fact, they demonstrated bad faith during the negotiation
process," the motion said.
The attorneys are requesting U.S. District Judge Gershwin A. Drain demand
Benson and Brater appear in court to explain why they failed to comply with
the agreement and to devise a plan to ensure blind voters will be given
access to absentee voting prior to the Aug. 4 primary election. They are also
asking the judge to appoint a third party to monitor the state's compliance
with the agreement and to order Michigan election officials to issue a press
release "informing the electorate of their deliberate violations of the
consent decree and their plan for remediation -- in order to prevent further
disenfranchisement of the blind community.
When the original consent decree was signed, the federal judge ordered
Michigan to pay the plaintiffs $124,258.25 in attorney fees and to publish a
press release notifying the public that a consent agreement had been entered
into and the terms. Attorneys for the blind plaintiffs said this was never
done.
While representatives for the state indicated the bid process to obtain a
remote voting system for the blind was underway in early June, according to
the contempt of court motion, Michigan officials "flouted the court's order
and waited five weeks" to issue a request for bids. The request for bids was
issued on June 24 and allows vendors 17 days to submit bids, the state said
in a status update filed in federal court Monday. "With proposals being
submitted through July 17, the Department of State determined it would not be
practicable to launch a (remote voting system) ... in time for use for the
August 4, 2020 Election," the status update said.
The state said it is working on an alternate voting system that "would allow
voters to be emailed accessible electronic ballots until the longer term
solution was available," the filing said. The alternative allows disabled
voters to print or email an absentee application request without the need for
a signature, so long as they provide their driver's license number or the
last four digits of their Social Security Number.
"The Department of State also developed a version of the electronic ballot
issued to military and overseas voters that can be read and marked with
screen readers," the state's status update said.
"The August ballot is complex -- it contains many races and includes both
partisan and non-partisan sections ... Because of the complexity of the
ballot, the development and testing of this version of an accessible
electronic ballot took longer than the May ballot. Nevertheless, the
Department of State was able to complete development and launch the
accessible electronic absent voter ballot.
Judge Drain called a status conference in the case to begin at 3 p.m.
Thursday, July 2.
"This case was supposed to ensure that the blind voters are not treated as an
afterthought-to ensure their full inclusion and participation in the
democratic process," Turkish said. "It is unfortunate that Jocelyn Benson is
forcing us to return to court to make that a reality, but it is necessary to
ensure the blind are not excluded from the ballot box."
