Hello,
Tomorrow is our Michigan Primary Election. I sure hope everyone makes maximum
effort to vote. We as blind folks have worked hard to secure a secret and
accessible voting system. Now, we need to make our voices heard.
Since 2002 we have had accessible voting machines. The first generation
machines have been replaced. All counties have new voting machines. Most
blind folks are familiar with the old Auto Mark machine. The Auto mark was the
only machine which was used in our state until this past November. It had some
glitches, but, for the most part, it worked pretty well and definitely afforded
a secret ballot.
Beginning in November in Michigan we now have 3 different machines determined
by which county you live in. The majority of counties chose the Dominion
machine. A vfew others chose the Hart machine. Around 10 or 12 chose the ES&S
machine which is the successor of the Auto Mark and still works quite well.
In Ingham County we use the Dominion Machine. In November I went to vote. To
my dismay, I could not vote a secret ballot because I could not figure out how
to use the machine and the poll worker, who was very nice and helped as much as
possible, could not coach me through it. Finally, I turned on the screen and
lost my secret ballot, but I did vote.
I went to Susan Aten, the Clerk of Lansing Township, where I live. She sat
with me for more than an hour and, still, we could not make the machine work
with the screen off. I, along with a lot of other blind folks, talked to a
lot of county and state folks, along with others to help fix the problem. The
week before last, I went, again, to Clerk Aten's office with a reporter named
Paul Egan from the Detroit Free Press to see if the machine would work. This
time, it did work. It worked in a very clunky and complicated way. I believe
that anyone who reads this post has the ability to figure it out. If you don't
please contact your local Clerk's office and let them know. These folks are
very dedicated to helping everyone vote and will listen to you. We also ought
to strive to push Dominion and Hart to improve the machine controls and
instructions to make them simple and fast to use.
Here is the article by Paul Egan which was in today's Detroit Free Press about
my experience here in Ingham County which uses the Dominion machine. I do not
wish to deter anyone from voting. Just the opposite, I want to encourage
everyone to vote. I just wish to alert you to the fact that the new machines
are different and for those of us who use the Dominion machine, it will be a
learning curve. I hope to help organize some training sessions for blind
voters before November and I encourage you to make an effort to learn the new
machine and to teach others how to use them Please let me know if you wish to
help organize a training session. .
This article is a pretty accurate and good synopsis of the situation. Paul
spent a long time watching and asking very insightful questions. If you are in
one of the counties that use the ES&S machine, fear not, it works pretty much
like the old Auto Mark. It has been improved to eliminate the ballot jamming
problem that the Auto Mark had.
PLEASE VOTE!!!
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Monday, August 6, 2018 1:06 PM
Subject: New voting machines a challenge for Michigan's blind voters Paul Egan
New voting machines a challenge for Michigan's blind voters Paul Egan , Detroit
Free Press New voting equipment purchased by many Michigan counties,
includingWayne, Oakland and Ingham, is difficult for blind people to use
without help, advocates say. Wochit Fred Wurtzel, who is blind, attempts to use
new votingequipment in Lansing Township. (Photo: Paul Egan/Detroit Free Press)
Buy Photo LANSING TWP. ' When millions of Michigan residents go to the polls in
Tuesday'sprimary election, many will'be be using new voting equipment for the
first time. Most probably won't notice much'difference. But much of the new
equipment' needed to upgrade aging voting machines around the state and paid
for with $40 million in federal and state money ' is expected to present
challengesfor blind voters. It's estimated about 221,000 Michigan residents
have a visual disability, based on a 2015 survey. Until 2002, when the federal
Help AmericaVote Act became law, most blind people had to tell their voting
choices to a sighted person and trust that person to accurately mark their
ballot for them.For more than a decade, blind Michigan voters such as Fred
Wurtzel have used an'AutoMark Voter Assist Terminal, which had a touch screen
and a keypad markedwith Braille ' among other features ' to help blind voters
cast secret ballots without having to ask for help. New Dominion Voting Systems
equipment 'now in use in most Michigan counties, including Wayne and Ingham,
but not'Oakland or Macomb' also has voter assist terminals. But the keypads
aren't markedwith Braille and some of the instructions blind voters receive
over headphones reference buttons by what color they are, not where on the
handset theyare located. That's not helpful to someone who can't see. Wurtzel,
who is second vice president of the National Federation of the Blind in
Michigan, saidit's also not easy to figure out how to turn on a privacy screen
that would keep others from seeing his'ballot while he fills it out. And'he
found manyof the verbal instructions ' received through a headset ' difficult
to hear or otherwise confusing. Casting a secret ballot "is a fundamental right
thatwe all expect," said Wurtzel.' Most everybody takes it for granted. When he
first tried the new Dominion voting equipment, Wurtzel felt like he'd
"beenthrown back into second-class citizenship," he said. More: New voting
machines coming to Michigan: Here's how they're different More: Michigan
Primary2018: Voter guide for Macomb, Wayne, Oakland counties He has since been
able to experiment further with the new voter assist terminal, through the
cooperationof Lansing Township Clerk Susan Aten. Wurtzel now believes he will
be able to use the equipment to cast a secret ballot without assistance. For
blind peopleencountering the new equipment for the first time, "it's going to
be a big challenge," Wurtzel said. Still, "I want to encourage everyone to do
it, becauseunless we exercise our right to vote, we're not going to be taken
seriously. Michigan counties got to choose between three different types of new
votingequipment ' Dominion, Election Systems & Software (ES&S), or Hart
InterCivic. Wurtzel said he and about 100 other blind people got to try voter
assistterminals from all three companies during a 2016 mock election the state
staged in advance of the procurement process. He said the blind testers were
unanimousin telling the state they preferred the ES&S equipment, which was
selected by Macomb and fewer than a dozen other Michigan counties. The ES&S
terminalswere closest to the AutoMark system blind people were used to, he
said. The Hart InterCivic equipment ' chosen by Oakland and about 10 other
counties 'was even harder to use than the Dominion equipment, Wurtzel said.
Dominion and Hart InterCivic did not respond to emails seeking comment. Fred
Woodhams,a spokesman for the Michigan Secretary of State's Office, said the
devices from all three manufacturers are federally certified and compliant with
theAmericans With Disabilities Act. Some communities began using the new
equipment in 2017, he said. "We have heard from some individuals with visual
impairmentwho expressed concerns about the new devices that assist voters with
disabilities," Woodhams said. "Some of the people said they preferred the ES&S
systemover the devices from the two other vendors, or that they liked the old
ES&S Automark device that was used statewide before the election equipment
replacement.Still, many people with other types of disabilities "give the new
devices high marks," and prefer them to the equipment used in Michigan
previously, hesaid. He cited quadriplegia and'severe brain injuries as examples
of other disabilities that could be better served by the new equipment. State
officials"greatly appreciate their feedback and will take their concerns into
account as we work with the vendors to improve the devices," Woodhams said.
InghamCounty Clerk Barb Byrum said it's "beyond concerning" that blind voters
have expressed valid concerns about the new equipment and she has been
meetingwith representatives of the blind community in recent months to make
changes ' some of which will require federal and state approval. Though the
ES&S equipmentscored better than Dominion with respect to blind voters, Byrum
said she'd had problems with the level of support ES&S provided for the former
equipmentand felt she needed to go with a different vendor. Oakland County
Clerk Lisa Brown said Thursday she was not aware the Hart equipment had been
ranked lastof the three technologies by blind testers. Most Oakland communities
used the new equipment in 2017 elections and "I have not had any complaints,"
shesaid. "I hope we don't have any problems," Brown said. "I don't want anyone
to feel uncomfortable voting. Wurtzel said that even after getting throughthe
voting process with the Dominion equipment,'he is concerned the ballot he will
turn in looks conspicuously different from those that sighted peoplewill mark.
Though it would mostly only become an issue in the event of a recount where
ballots are checked by hand, "this is not a secret ballot'becausemy ballot
looks different from everyone else's," he said. In Lansing Township, Aten said
the new equipment is less than ideal for blind voters who wantto vote in secret
and without assistance' especially during an inevitable learning curve ' but
she and her staff will do what they can to try to make thechange as seamless as
possible. Aten said she's instructing her election workers ' who aren't blind '
to use the voter assist terminals to vote so therewill be more ballots that
look similar to the one Wurtzel uses. Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or
pegan@xxxxxxxxxxxxx. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4. Detroit Free Press,
August 5 2018
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