WEEDSPORT - For nearly 15 minutes, Susan Storms silently sat with her white cane folded away on her lap, while her fingers felt their way across a small video game-like controller with big colorful buttons that she pressed to fill out her electronic ballot.
Sam Tenney / The Citizen
Susan Storms uses a control pad to cast her ballot electronically Tuesday morning at the Weedsport Town Hall. Storms, who is severely visually impaired, was the first person to use the new machine in Weedsport.
Susan Storms uses a control pad to cast her ballot electronically Tuesday morning at the Weedsport Town Hall. Storms, who is severely visually impaired, was the first person to use the new machine in Weedsport.
Even with the constant metallic clanking of the antiquated lever operated voting machines operating nearby, Storms could not be distracted from her goal.
As she finished using the controller to mark the ballot, Storms removed the headset she used to hear the audio instructions, and told three watching election inspectors that she had finished voting without assistance for the first time in 23 years.
“Overall that was very painless and self-explanatory,” Storms said. “It gave me a lot of comfort to hear it read my choices back to me before I submitted it.”
Storms, who has severe visual impairment after suffering from two degenerative eye conditions, was the first person to use the new Sequoia-ImageCast voting machines in the Weedsport Town Hall during Tuesday's elections. The optical scanning machines will be replacing the old lever machines next year, but at least one of the new machines had to be in every polling place this year.
As a member of the board of directors for Options for Independence, a group that helps disabled residents live independent lives, Storms said she was originally worried about being assured the machine picked the right choices.
During previous elections, Storms said she would go into the voting booth with her mother and tell her what to pick.
“Everyone who I had in there I trusted to pull the right levers because I couldn't see them or read the choices,” Storms said.
While it took Storms 15 minutes to vote, the election officials hit a snag when the printer failed to print out her ballot. A two-minute printing procedure turned into 15 as election inspector Debby Schwarting called for technical support, communicating her instructions through a doorway to a co-worker, Julie Bowden, who attempted to operate the machine.
“Just like anything new, you got to learn it and it takes a while with these machines,” Schwarting said. “There's nothing wrong with the machine, we are just still learning about it.”
While no serious problems were reported in Cayuga County with the machines, Tracy Murphy, the executive director for Options for Independence, said she saw and heard of several problems in Onondaga County, where she worked as an elections inspector. One location was not wheelchair accessible and at another, the machine would not recognize the paddle device used to input commands for voters who did not have the hand dexterity to use the ATI controller.
“Instead we used the ATI device to input the commands for this individual,” Murphy said. “We stood out of sight of the monitor and they told use what buttons to hit. While it wasn't completely independent voting, it was at least partly independent.”
But for Storms, the clank of her ballot falling into the voting machines lockbox 30 minutes after she finished voting without any assistance was the sound of a new-found freedom.
“Whenever a disabled person can totally do a task by themselves that they couldn't before, its a win-win situation,” Storms said. “We strive for independence every day. ... I like this machine because I can finally vote by myself. I am very happy; it's kind of like getting your driver's license again because you did it yourself. For someone like me, the freedom to walk into the booth and vote by myself made up for any time inconvenience. When your disabled you're always waiting on other people anyway to do things like pay the bills or go to the grocery store, so you learn to be patient.”
Staff writer Nate Robson can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 248 or nathan.robson@lee.net
As she finished using the controller to mark the ballot, Storms removed the headset she used to hear the audio instructions, and told three watching election inspectors that she had finished voting without assistance for the first time in 23 years.
“Overall that was very painless and self-explanatory,” Storms said. “It gave me a lot of comfort to hear it read my choices back to me before I submitted it.”
Storms, who has severe visual impairment after suffering from two degenerative eye conditions, was the first person to use the new Sequoia-ImageCast voting machines in the Weedsport Town Hall during Tuesday's elections. The optical scanning machines will be replacing the old lever machines next year, but at least one of the new machines had to be in every polling place this year.
As a member of the board of directors for Options for Independence, a group that helps disabled residents live independent lives, Storms said she was originally worried about being assured the machine picked the right choices.
During previous elections, Storms said she would go into the voting booth with her mother and tell her what to pick.
“Everyone who I had in there I trusted to pull the right levers because I couldn't see them or read the choices,” Storms said.
While it took Storms 15 minutes to vote, the election officials hit a snag when the printer failed to print out her ballot. A two-minute printing procedure turned into 15 as election inspector Debby Schwarting called for technical support, communicating her instructions through a doorway to a co-worker, Julie Bowden, who attempted to operate the machine.
“Just like anything new, you got to learn it and it takes a while with these machines,” Schwarting said. “There's nothing wrong with the machine, we are just still learning about it.”
While no serious problems were reported in Cayuga County with the machines, Tracy Murphy, the executive director for Options for Independence, said she saw and heard of several problems in Onondaga County, where she worked as an elections inspector. One location was not wheelchair accessible and at another, the machine would not recognize the paddle device used to input commands for voters who did not have the hand dexterity to use the ATI controller.
“Instead we used the ATI device to input the commands for this individual,” Murphy said. “We stood out of sight of the monitor and they told use what buttons to hit. While it wasn't completely independent voting, it was at least partly independent.”
But for Storms, the clank of her ballot falling into the voting machines lockbox 30 minutes after she finished voting without any assistance was the sound of a new-found freedom.
“Whenever a disabled person can totally do a task by themselves that they couldn't before, its a win-win situation,” Storms said. “We strive for independence every day. ... I like this machine because I can finally vote by myself. I am very happy; it's kind of like getting your driver's license again because you did it yourself. For someone like me, the freedom to walk into the booth and vote by myself made up for any time inconvenience. When your disabled you're always waiting on other people anyway to do things like pay the bills or go to the grocery store, so you learn to be patient.”
Staff writer Nate Robson can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 248 or nathan.robson@lee.net
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timeclock wrote on Nov 5, 2008 5:29 AM:
I am someone who has worked with disabled people many years over, and also have a family member who (as far as I can tell)will never be at the level of knowledge that you are concerning voting. so I congratulate you. Be Proud ! "