Hey Brent,
I got my deafblind friend wants me to forward to you, because our
deafblind communties unable to hear by audios so can you forward me then
send to them again.
Thank you for your time,
DB Jose

    Hell oBrent, it is wonderful that it is accessible, but what is
missing????? How will this stupid audio provide deafblind???? We can't
hear
or can't see. Think about this. Yes, Diebold does discriminate agazinst
deafblind voters. Thank you!

    With bear hugs,
    Rich

----- Original Message -----
From: "DB Curly" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, November 06, 2002 8:33 PM
Subject: [DBL] Fw: Re: Voting Machines Can't Help Disabled


> --------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Brent Reynolds <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Date: Tue, 5 Nov 2002 10:15:36 -500
> Subject: Re: Voting Machines Can't Help Disabled
> Message-ID: <[log in to unmask]>
>
> Hi, Guys,
> Well, for once, the state of Georgia is the leader of the nation today.
>
> Every single voting booth in every precinct in every county in the
entire
> state of Georgia is using the touch-screen machines made by Diebold.
> Every
> one of the more than eleven-thousand machines in the state is already
> equipped with the capability for audio output, and the visual output on
> the
> screen can also be greatly enlarged.
>
> Where I voted this morning, only one of the 20 machines had the
external
> keypad that makes navigation a little easier, and they had only one
> over-the-ear headset.  The machines have a standard audio jack that
> accepts
> the same type of stereo headset plug that is used almost universally on
> portable and walk-around radios and tape players and CD players.  Each
> machine also has an industry-standard RS-232C serial port which could
> accept
> an external device, such as a braille-equipped notetaker or computer,
or
> some kind of control device such as a mouthstick or Morse code keyer.
>
> The process went very smoothly.  The audio instructions were clear and
> the
> speech was easily understandable.  I would have liked to have been able
> to
> speed up the reading quite a bit.
>
> It really felt good to walk up to that machine and complete an entire
> balloting process without any assistance from anybody else, reading the
> information in private, and making my selections without somebody
looking
> over my shoulder.
>
> When I finished the process and handed in the little key card, I was
> accosted by a representative frojm Diebold who wanted to know what I
> thought
> of his machine and how I thought it might be improved.
>
> I suggested that each machine should have the navigational keypad,
maybe
> it
> could be actually built into the machine, instead of being a separate
> plug-in device.  I suggested that every machine should be already
> equipped
> for total access, and that even the demo machine should have the audio
> capability turned on.  They said the demo machine placed at the door to
> the
> outside of the voting room was not set up for audio output.  The
> capability
> was there, but it was not turned on, and the demo machine was not
> outfitted
> with the keypad and the headset.
>
> For the past week, the Georgia Secretary of State's Office has been
> running
> an ad in which a nice little old grandmotherly type lady croons on
about
> how
> it is so wonderfully easy to use this new machine.  "If you can use a
> microwave, you can do this!" she enthuses.
>
> Actually, the machine is easier to use than at least half of the
> microwave
> ovens currently on the market in this area.
>
> The only people who vote in Georgia in this NOvember 5 election who
want
> have the pleasure to use this thing are those who decided to have a
> traditional paper absentee ballot mailed to them.
>
> I would not be surprised at all if every single vote will have been
> tallied
> and reported in Grogia, statewide, within two hours after the polls
have
> closed, three at the most if some precincts get a last-minute rush of
> people
> wanting to vote.
>
> I have used those bed-sheet-sized absentee ballots, those funky punch
> card
> ballots that produced the famous hanging chads, like in Florida in
2000,
> those clunky old metalic monsters with the rows of levers you throw to
> one
> side or the other, just about every kind of voting technology that has
> been
> in common use since the early 1970's in this country.  The way I did it
> today was the best of them all by far.
>
> It makes me feel really good that in this state, even had I been living
> in
> the smallest, poorest, most rural county in the state, I would have
still
> used the latest and most PWD-friendly and accessible modern
vote-casting
> technology available.
>
> According to the Diebold company representative who was there to make
> sure
> his product was performing up to expectations, that particular machine
is
> being used in Los Angeles County, California, a few cities and counties
> in
> Maryland, and the entire state of Georgia.
>
> Voting was especially pleasant for me this morning, even though I went
> home
> in a chilly rain after it was done, and had to wait several minutes
> outside
> under a lowering slightly chilled sky, to get in thanks to the long
line
> of
> all those people who decided they would stop off and vote on their way
in
> to
> work.
>
> The machine even did not complain as some well-meaning sighted
assistants
> have been wont to do, when it came time to completely read the entire
> text
> of the proposed constitutional ammendments and the state-wide and
> county-wide refferenda at the bottom of the ballot.
>
> Reply to: [log in to unmask]
> Brent Reynolds, Atlanta, GA  USA
>
> Feudalism: It's your Count that votes.
>
>
> VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
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