Hi! I got this from another list, and I think it's helpful! Sharon note: an extensively hyperlinked hypertext version of this post is located at: http://www.hicom.net/~oedipus/blog/hava2008.html Just In Case You HAVA Problem Voting for Yourself (Yet Again) This Year (2008 Edition) A note on reproduction and localization: This document began as a local resource for a local organization of blind and visually impaired individuals, but it has been suggested to the author that the contents and information contained herein also pertain to the United States at large. Therefore, everyone anywhere, acting in good faith, is given permission to reproduce this rant, substituting localized information for the "tri-state" (in the NY-NJ-CONN sense of the term) focus of the original. This is not a political solicitation, nor propaganda, and is provided for informational purposes only. Your vote is your own decision. My aim is to ensure that you have the tools available not only to let your state know whether or not it is actually in compliance with HAVA, but to enable you to vote as an autonomous individual, an integral aspect of full citizenship. [reference note: the full text of HAVA -- the Help Americans Vote Act of 2002 -- can be found at: http://www.fec.gov/hava/law_ext.txt] Tuesday, November 4, 2008, is Election Day, and for some of us it will be the first opportunity to test the HAVA (Help Americans Vote Act) stipulation that in EVERY polling place there be at least ONE machine accessible to the blind and visually impaired, allowing us to vote autonomously, unaccompanied by sighted assistants or poll workers whom one cannot always trust to pull the correct lever; especially when one's voting for a non-traditional candidate, such as Ralph Nader or Leonard Peltier, or for a "fringe" party. Years ago, in Jersey City, where i then resided, a poll worker who was in the voting booth with me to select candidates argued with me for over 15 minutes when i told her that i was voting the Green Party for president and bullet voting for any other race in which a member of the Socialist Workers' Party fielded a candidate... The poll worker, in a voice usually reserved for animals and those for whom english is not their first language, insisted that there were only two parties from which to choose: Democrat and Republican... i cannot honestly say how my vote was cast in 2000, but at least -- in that respect -- i am not alone. i also am wary of relying on voting by absentee ballot as a substitute for going to a polling place and voting in person. The limitations and problems with absentee ballots are legion: absentee ballots obviously need to be filled out by a third party, but -- although the advent of early voting by absentee ballot may mitigate this in those states where early voting by absentee ballot is permitted -- most of all because absentee ballots are hardly ever even opened, especially when the margin of victory of one candidate is larger than the number of absentee ballots received, for, counting them -- according to state election boards -- would be a waste of time, money, and resources -- despite the fact that: * Every vote is supposed to count equally, no matter how cast; and * Voting for non-traditional slash third party candidates can help them qualify for public campaign funding during the next election cycle... In the interest of letting the polling persons know that there are actually people out there who actually need and will use the adaptive interface, and to test their state of residence's commitment to comply fully with HAVA this year, i encourage everyone to make a special point of voting in person. When i attempted to test new jersey's self-congratulatory claims that it was fully compliant with HAVA during the 2006 mid-term elections, no one at my designated polling place knew what i was talking about when i asked to use the accessible machine and it took a visit to Municipal Hall, conversations with the Town Clerk, the county Elections Board, and the State Elections Board requesting that someone contact my polling place to tell the poll workers there what the adaptive input-output interface looked like, where and how to hook it up, and how to turn it on and use it. Three hours later, the adaptive input-ouput alternate keyboard was located and they finally succeeded in hooking the accessible, audio-output interface to the electronic voting machine -- they're all electronic in NJ since 2006 -- but the interface didn't work at all, allowing neither input, nor output, so there was no way for me to cast my vote unassisted... The reason a state's claim of full compliance with the HAVA's 7 specific requirements, is that one of the seven explicitly states: * A means to ensure that voters with disabilities, including voters with visual impairments, will be able to vote independently without third party assistance by providing each polling place with at least one direct recording electronic voting system or other voting system equipped for individuals with disabilities; [source: http://www.fec.gov/hava/law_ext.txt] So, get out and vote! Make your voice heard -- it's the only way they'll know we're out here! _________________________________________________________________ New Jersey The official web site of the state of New Jersey contains an excellent resource for accessibility issues and the polls in NJ, located at: [http://www.nj.gov/state/elections/voter-rights.html] which includes a Voter Report Form for Polling Place Accessibility Concerns, which can be filled out online at: [http://www.state.nj.us/lps/elections/voting_access_feedback_form.html] if you, as a resident of New Jersey encountered any difficulty with casting your own vote independently using equipment required by state and federal law, PLEASE let the state know by filling out the Polling Place Accessibility form, referenced above. _________________________________________________________________ New York New York set itself a deadline of November 2007 for compliance with HAVA, so this will be the first time, in a general election, that New York residents will be able to cast their vote autonomously, and accurately, at any and all polling sites in the state of New York. there is limited supply of information about HAVA compliance at the State of New York's web site, most of the information available through this resource are untagged PDF files. * Help America Vote Act/Protection & Advocacy for Voter Access (PAVA) in NY [http://www.cqcapd.state.ny.us/HAVA-PAVA.htm] * Voting Protection in the State of New York [http://www.cqcapd.state.ny.us/newsletter/issue90/votingprotection.htm] * State of New York HAVA Implementation Plan (PDF file) [http://www.ogs.state.ny.us/purchase/biddocument/22300VotingSystemPlan.pdf ] * HAVA Implementation Plan: September 29, 2007 (PDF file) [http://www.elections.state.ny.us/NYSBOE/hava/DraftHAVAImplementationPlan0 9292007-R.pdf] * Guidelines for Ballot Counting (PDF file) [http://www.elections.state.ny.us/NYSBOE/hava/guidelinesforballotcounting2 0068206.pdf] _________________________________________________________________ Connecticut Although Connecticut missed its January 1, 2006 deadline for compliance with HAVA, an attorney at the Connecticut Secretary of State's office informed me that the state IS in compliance for this november's election. this means that if you attempt to vote in Connecticut, but there is either no accessible polling mechanism, a non-functional accessible voting machine, or no one who had been trained on how to work the machine in its accessible mode, allowing you to vote privately and independently, you should complain to the voting registrar of the municipality or county in which you live, to tell them where and when you encountered problems, and you can call the State Attorney General's office at: 1 860 509 6000 The state of Connecticut's official HAVA compliance declaration can be found at: [http://www.sots.ct.gov/sots/cwp/view.asp?A=3179&QUESTION_ID=392226] but be forewarned, most of the information available through this resource is contained in untagged PDF files. _________________________________________________________________ Federal HAVA Resources * full text of HAVA: The Help Americans Vote Act of 2002 (plain text) [http://www.fec.gov/hava/law_ext.txt] * FEC Voting System Standards (Federal Register Notice) [http://www.fec.gov/agenda/agendas2001/mtgdoc01-62/01-62a/frnotice.htm] _________________________________________________________________ Informative Voting Resources * FactCheck dot org [http://www.factcheck.org/] * SourceWatch: monitors whose money is behind what campaign literature, propaganda, and 527s [http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=SourceWatch] _________________________________________________________________ ---------------------------------------------------------------- CONSERVATIVE, n. A statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from the Liberal, who wishes to replace them with others. -- Ambrose Bierce, _The Devil's Dictionary_ ---------------------------------------------------------------- Gregory J. Rosmaita, [log in to unmask] Camera Obscura: http://www.hicom.net/~oedipus/index.html ---------------------------------------------------------------- VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List. Archived on the World Wide Web at http://listserv.icors.org/archives/vicug-l.html Signoff: [log in to unmask] Subscribe: [log in to unmask]