Yes very good idea Vickie. There is nothing like a persons identification.
On Jun 30, 2020, at 6:02 PM, Vickie <happytraveler1972@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Maybe voter IDs would solve this whole problem. Then only the number would be
shown, and the vote could be validated. Seems that now that they are doing the
Real ID process, it could be implemented into a voter ID. Make them free of
charge, so no one is left out due to the cost to vote. Just a thought. I’m
not a statistician.
Vickie
From: Steve
Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 2020 7:12 AM
To: msb-alumni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [msb-alumni] 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
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."
