The last horse has crossed the finish line, a mere six years after the starting gun. With the decision by our state's Board of Elections to certify a voting technology to bring us into compliance with the Help America Vote Act, New Yorkers with disabilities are finally one step closer to being able to fully exercise their right to vote.
This has been a long struggle, and we are last in the nation.
Our lateness has been so enraging to U.S. District Court Judge Gary Sharpe that he threatened to lock up the election commissioners, or have them stripped of their decision making power on this matter and appoint a special master to decide on a voting system.
At the eleventh hour, the board rejected DRE style machines, also known as #”ATM style,#” in favor of #”optical scan#” technology which reads a paper ballot. The one and only model the state Board of Elections has certified is the Sequoia Imagecast voting machine.
Every polling place in the state will be required to have one of these machines available for disabled voters in time for the September local primary election this year. Here in Cayuga County, that represents at least 65 new machines. In many polling locations there is currently only one voting machine, so many parts of the county are scheduled to be completely HAVA compliant by this fall.
The disability advocacy community is cautiously pleased that there has been progress on this issue, but it remains to be seen how much progress this represents.
The goal of HAVA is to make sure that every voter in America has an equal right to have their vote cast in private and counted accurately. The difficulty this presents is that people with disabilities are not a uniform block.
Accessibility for all is a tall order because the range of needs is vast. Some will be served well by this new system, others may still face some difficulties. The Imagecast machine has a number of features to make it accessible, including audio adapters for the visually impaired and ballot markers for those who have dexterity issues. However, this is a new device. It remains to be seen how completely it addresses accessibility concerns in an actual election.
It is a positive step for all voters to be moving away from our state's antiquated lever voting machines.
However, this positive step does not excuse six years of delays at the state level. Citizens of New York have been badly served by the blatant disregard for their rights and the law. Officials at the state Board of Elections tried to justify the state's reluctance to comply with HAVA by saying that it has allowed them to learn from the mistakes of other states. That excuse might be satisfactory if they were 35th rather than dead last. The sad truth is that the state failed people with disabilities for too long.
We are now in uncharted territory. Even small decisions by local election officials set important precedents. As these issues continue to evolve, the best defense we have as citizens is to stay active and stay informed.
Amanda Derby is the housing advocate for Options for Independence, located at 75 Genesee St. in Auburn. She can be reached at 255-3447.
Our lateness has been so enraging to U.S. District Court Judge Gary Sharpe that he threatened to lock up the election commissioners, or have them stripped of their decision making power on this matter and appoint a special master to decide on a voting system.
At the eleventh hour, the board rejected DRE style machines, also known as #”ATM style,#” in favor of #”optical scan#” technology which reads a paper ballot. The one and only model the state Board of Elections has certified is the Sequoia Imagecast voting machine.
Every polling place in the state will be required to have one of these machines available for disabled voters in time for the September local primary election this year. Here in Cayuga County, that represents at least 65 new machines. In many polling locations there is currently only one voting machine, so many parts of the county are scheduled to be completely HAVA compliant by this fall.
The disability advocacy community is cautiously pleased that there has been progress on this issue, but it remains to be seen how much progress this represents.
The goal of HAVA is to make sure that every voter in America has an equal right to have their vote cast in private and counted accurately. The difficulty this presents is that people with disabilities are not a uniform block.
Accessibility for all is a tall order because the range of needs is vast. Some will be served well by this new system, others may still face some difficulties. The Imagecast machine has a number of features to make it accessible, including audio adapters for the visually impaired and ballot markers for those who have dexterity issues. However, this is a new device. It remains to be seen how completely it addresses accessibility concerns in an actual election.
It is a positive step for all voters to be moving away from our state's antiquated lever voting machines.
However, this positive step does not excuse six years of delays at the state level. Citizens of New York have been badly served by the blatant disregard for their rights and the law. Officials at the state Board of Elections tried to justify the state's reluctance to comply with HAVA by saying that it has allowed them to learn from the mistakes of other states. That excuse might be satisfactory if they were 35th rather than dead last. The sad truth is that the state failed people with disabilities for too long.
We are now in uncharted territory. Even small decisions by local election officials set important precedents. As these issues continue to evolve, the best defense we have as citizens is to stay active and stay informed.
Amanda Derby is the housing advocate for Options for Independence, located at 75 Genesee St. in Auburn. She can be reached at 255-3447.
Citizen
Hot Jobs
New! Off the Menu
The Citizens' Say
Post your comment - click hereThere are No comments posted.