I remember in 2016, when I voted at Atwood elementary, the machine was broken
down. When I got there they had to send one person from each party in to the
booth with me to make sure that the other party didn’t cheat. I had to wait an
extra 30 minutes for two people to show up to help. This system totally sucks.
They need to get machines that are going to work. Thank you Fred for sending me
this article. I will definitely be in touch with Our county clerk before
November. Take care and God bless you. Tony 1978
Sent from my iPhone
On Aug 6, 2018, at 9:27 PM, Steve <pipeguy920@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
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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