New polling system a boon for voters with disabilities

By Stephanie V. Siek, Boston Globe Staff  |  November 13, 2005

There was something about the voting machines used in Watertown last Tuesday that made Judi Cannon throw her hands up in the air and cheer.
''Oh, I am so excited. For the first time in my life as a blind person, I have been able to vote independently, privately, and have been able to vote by myself," said Cannon, who works at the Perkins School for the Blind's Braille and Talking Book Library. ''I always had to talk to my husband or a pollworker [about] for whom I would vote and which position. I didn't have to do that yesterday. It gave me the same right as every other American."

Voting machines designed to accommodate the needs of blind and other disabled voters were tested in Watertown, Waltham, and Woburn, part of an effort to find a system that will be used statewide as Massachusetts tries to comply with federal legislation mandating equal treatment for voters with disabilities.

The 2002 Help America Vote Act requires all states and jurisdictions to have accessible equipment by Jan. 1, 2006.

In the past, voters who had visual impairments had to rely on a friend, relative, volunteer, or pollworker to read them the choices on the ballot and then mark the choice for them.

Kim Charlson, an activist for the rights of the blind and a member of the secretary of state's Help America Vote Act Committee, said that even with trained and supposedly objective pollworkers offering assistance, privacy can still be a concern.

She said that on two occasions in prior elections, the person assisting her tried to tell her not to vote for the candidate she had chosen.

''I don't think there were many people who came to the polls Tuesday and left as excited as I was," said Charlson, who also directs the Perkins School's library.

Each city tested a machine by a different manufacturer. In Watertown, between 75 and 100 voters tried out the Diebold AccuVote TSX, according to Town Clerk John Flynn. Waltham voters had the option of using the AutoMARK Voter Assist Terminal, made by Omaha-based Election Systems and Software, and clerk Rosario Malone estimated that between 20 and 30 did. Woburn tested a system called e-Slate.

One of the machines went to each polling place in the three cities.

Cannon, who voted at a poll in Hibernian Hall in Watertown, said she found the AccuVote TSX easy to use and said the representative from the vendor who sold the units was responsive to the suggestions she had for improvement.

The AccuVote TSX uses a touchscreen combined with a numeric keypad and a data card. The card, similar to a credit card, is encoded with the ballot information for the voter's district and ward by a poll worker.

The card is ed into the machine, and the ballot information can be displayed onscreen in large or standard size print as well as heard through headphones. A blind or sight-impaired voter can listen to a list of candidates and then press a number on the keypad.
At the end, the machine reads back the voter's choices for confirmation. The vote is entered into the system with a press of a button and recorded both electronically on the machine and on a paper roll kept inside.

The system tested in Waltham also uses a touchscreen but has directional and ''" keys with braille translations imprinted below them instead of a numeric keypad.

Voters can move through the list of candidates by pressing the up and down buttons; touch to make their choice; and move between races or ballot issues by pressing buttons for back and forward. Users can also adjust the tempo or volume of the computer-generated voice that reads the choices and instructions. The choices are read aloud for confirmation.

Instead of recording the ballot results in the machine, it marks the voters choices on the same optical scan ballot used by other voters. It's also compatible with sip/puff mouth tubes, joysticks, and other devices for people who aren't able to use the touch screen or keys.

Pollworkers in both cities said that elderly people with diminished eyesight seemed to have a harder time figuring out the machines than those who were young or who had been blind since birth.

Theresa Fanara, a poll warden in Waltham's first ward, said that two or three people had been offered the opportunity to use the machine but they were too nervous concerned about the amount of time it would take and whether they could master the technology.

Watertown Poll Warden Daniel O'Connor works at the polling place for Precinct 5, where the Perkins School for the Blind is located. He said that in past elections many of the eligible students and teachers at the school have used absentee ballots. He said he hopes that changes once people know that the new accessible machines will be available at their polling location.

''It says, 'Your vote's going to count; come out here and vote,"' O'Connor said.