BlankI think I could but the problem is they want me to sign the back of the
envelope
I mail, which means any Tom Dick or Harrie t that handles the mail could
potentially
see whom I voted for.
I realize they could in theory the other way, but it would be less likely that
somebody would open an envelope that didn't have a signature on the outside. I
would
love it if they would have provided a sleeve that I could sign and have inside
the
envelope.
----- Original Message -----
From: Fred Olver
To: msb-alumni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 2020 10:28 AM
Subject: [msb-alumni] Re: 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
Steve, could you put a folded sheet of paper to surround your ballot in the
envelope?
Or would that disqualify your ballot. Fred
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."
