Hello Steve,
I am not aware of the joy stick option. I believe the hart uses a joystick.
The touch screen on the tablet does not work with speech and that is why they
use the interface.
I am going to vote at 10:30. I will report my experiences later after I vote.
I hope no one is deterred by the challenges. We need to use the equipment so
that it will be made to work optimally. Even more important, is to vote.
Voting is the cornerstone of our democracy and we, as blind folks, need to
claim our first-class citizenship by voting with a secret ballot. Next, we
need to work on accessible absentee ballots. Courts have ruled that Ohio must
make absentee ballots accessible. Michigan is in the same court district as
Ohio, so, the ruling applies here, as well.
Warmest Regards,
Fred
-----Original Message-----
From: msb-alumni-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:msb-alumni-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] ;
On Behalf Of Steve
Sent: Monday, August 6, 2018 9:28 PM
To: msb-alumni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [msb-alumni] Re: New voting machines a challenge for Michigan's blind
voters Paul Egan
Fred,
This is disturbing -- actually the thing that bothers me most is that the
ballot is different from the other ballots.
Question: Some of the New Dominion machines have alternate methods for
entering your choices when the AVS mode is selected (Assisted vote).
Which methodology did you use? I understand they have joysticks available that
can be plugged into the tablet, or that it is also possible to use the screen
with audio feedback.
The last time I voted, they still had the Automark at my precinct, but that was
early last year, I think.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Fred Wurtzel" <f.wurtzel@xxxxxxx>
To: <msb-alumni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, August 06, 2018 5:15 PM
Subject: [msb-alumni] New voting machines a challenge for Michigan's blind
voters Paul Egan
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 c
hoices 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 fo
und 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 s
eriously. 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 th
eAmericans 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 peoplewi
ll 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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