New machines will help disabled citizens to vote

Elvia D?az
The Arizona Republic
Aug. 16, 2005 12:00 AM

Disabled Arizonans will soon be able to vote at the polls, in private, like other Arizona residents, using touch-screen machines that mark a paper ballot.

Arizona must set up the new voting machines in each of the 2,092 precincts by the November 2006 election to comply with the Help America Vote Act, a federal law approved in 2002.

State election officials will begin asking for bids from private companies within a month.
That's good news for people like Kevin Chinn, who is blind and is eager to vote without assistance.

Chinn, whose wife is also blind, now relies on others to help him vote at the polls or fill out a mail-in ballot.

"We want to keep our vote private, just like everybody else," said Chinn, 45, who lives in Peoria and suffers from diabetes. "Right now, somebody has to read me the ballot."

It's unclear how many disabled voters live in Arizona and who might benefit from the new voting system because people don't identify themselves as disabled when they register to vote, Deputy Secretary of State Kevin Tyne said. A person's gender, race or disability is not provided on voter registration forms.

Dan Martinez, president of the Arizona Council for the Blind, said the challenge is to get voting equipment that can meet the needs of voters whose disabilities run the gamut from hearing and mobility problems to vision impairment.

"Disabilities aren't homogenous," said Martinez, 59, who is legally blind and fills out a mail-in ballot using a magnifying glass. "We want a machine that works for a whole range of disabled people."

Touch-screen machines made by Chicago-based AutoMark tested during the Nov. 2, 2004, election proved generally popular among disabled voters.

The machines are designed to provide privacy and accessibility to voters who are blind, have language barriers or other disabilities, he said. The machines have an audio component that prompts the voter to make aion.

When the voter is finished the machine marks an optical-scan ballot.

"It was the only one at the time that provided a paper ballot," Tyne said, referring to the AutoMark machine. Since then, other companies have come up with other designs, he said.

Uncle Sam is expected to kick in most of the money, or roughly $13.3 million, toward the cost of setting up the accessible voting systems,

The 65 people who used the machine in November and filled out a survey generally favored the equipment, saying instructions were easy to follow. At least one voter said the machine wasn't helpful because Braille ballots are available and can be filled out at home.

"The machine leaves a paper trail, which is great," said Pam Allan, a 61-year-old Phoenix precinct inspector who is must use a scooter because of health problems. "It's going to make things so much easier for many voters."

Rep. Steve Gallardo, a Phoenix Democrat and who served on the state committee set up to iron out guidelines to comply with the federal law, said voting help for the disabled has been slow in coming.

"It's unfortunate we had to wait for a federal law to do this," Gallardo said.

"We've done a poor job but the state is making great progress."