According to a new report issued by VoterAction and Demos, “Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) voting machines, once considered essential to ensuring private and independent voting booth access for voters with disabilities, often do not work as promised, according to a new report published today. Authored by access technology expert Noel Runyan and published by election reform groups Demos and Voter Action, “Improving Access to Voting: A Report on the Technology for Accessible Voting Systems” shows that, due to inadequate or malfunctioning voting machines, voters with disabilities are frequently forced to ask for assistance or compromise the privacy of their vote— severe violations of federal disability accommodation requirements. The report details significant difficulties for voters with disabilities, including: the lack of a controllable interface for those who are unable to use touch screens or tactile key inputs; inadequate audio access features for people with visual or cognitive impairments, with dyslexia, or with severe motor-impairments; and lack of privacy curtains to prevent others from reading the voters’ ions on their visual displays. “I originally had high hopes for the new voting machines” said Noel Runyan, the author of the report. Runyan, who is blind, is a professional electrical engineer who has spent much of his career developing access technologies for people with visual impairments. “Even with my technical background and the help of poll workers, I could not get the Sequoia Edge II DRE to work. I have since tested most of the available voting systems at conferences and at the National Federation of the Blind’s accessible voting systems lab, and my fears have been confirmed: Most of the DREs deployed were not designed with real disability access in mind.””

 

NAtional: Promise of Accessible Voting For Voters With Disabilities Still Unfulfilled, New Report Finds

http://www.voteraction.org/News/02-14-07_1.html

 

NAtional: Senator Introduces 'Disappointing' E-Vote Reform Bill

http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3659991

 

NAtional: Opinion - Let's feel safe about voting

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070214/OPINION/702140363/-1/ZONES04

 

NAtional: New Version of Holt Bill: A Giant Step Backwards

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_vickie_k_070214_new_version_of_holt_.htm

 

NAtional: Editorial – Fix The Machines

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2007/02/14/EDGRJN773T1.DTL

 

NAtional: Holt Election Reform Bill Continues to be Supported by Democrats and Their Public Advocacy Groups, While Being Criticized by the Election Integrity Community

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4150

 

NAtional: Overseas and Military Absentee Voters Continue to Face Voting Difficulties

http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2263&Itemid=26

 

FL: Nelson introduces bill to ban paperless voting

http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/nation/16691814.htm

 

FL: Nelson proposes bill to require paper ballots

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-vote1407feb14,0,2214514.story?coll=orl-news-headlines-state

 

KY: Runoff law may face elimination

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/16693768.htm

 

NJ: Vote machine documents stir debate

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-6/1171431913243210.xml&coll=1

 

NM: Los Alamos County - Council yanks voting machine funding

http://www.lamonitor.com/articles/2003/11/19/headline_news/news03.txt

 

NY: Lifton among those calling for switch to optical scanner voting

http://www.theithacajournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070214/NEWS01/702140332

 

PA: Bucks County - Quick Results, Not Necessarily Accurate Results

http://blogs.phillyburbs.com/blog.php?p=10791&cat=8

 

TX: Democrats sue to fix voting machines

eSlate electronic voting machines faulty, federal filing says.

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/02/14/14BALLOT.html

 

TX: Houston - Officials manipulate elections with polling location

http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/state/16698134.htm

 

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