Message-ID: <[log in to unmask]>

Kelly and all,
all precincts in Alameda county Calif are using the Accu-Vote TS
machines.  Absentee ballots are the optically scanned type.

The audio adaptation is apparently not available at all
poling places, but visually impaired voters may go to one of several
alternate locations to vote using the audio adapted machine, and can call
the registrar of voters to check on locations.  Information on
the new system and on accessibility for visually impaired is in
the on line voters guide.

As an added incentive, voters were also allowed to vote early. I
did this at a local city hall, very convenient to get too,
actually easier than my assigned poling place.

when I walked in, the folks at the city clerk's office were
thrilled to have a subject on whom to test the audio system, they
feared they wouldn't get to find out if it really worked.

I had come prepared with a braille cheat sheet containing a
summary of my selections taken from a variety of sources
including the California on line voters guide.  This was in PDF,
but converted adequately. That is as long as you didn't care
about much formatting. <G>

Some information on local issues and races was much more
difficult to find and I did have help from my sighted wife to get
at this info.  The voters guide is supposedly available from
local libraries on tape, but they were allowing only one day
borrowing.  considering the complexity of the ballot, this is a
bad joke.

The Accu-Vote TS machine is extremely easy to use.  The worker merely
plugs in the audio adapter which consists of a box with a standard
12 button telephone style keypad and a set of light weight
earphones.  They then select the correct magnetic card to
activate the audio system.   they said there would be spoken help
and you just used the 4,6 keys to move backward and forward through the
ballot.  You then use the 5 key to make or change any selection as
it is read.
The card has a small hole in a corner to assist in inserting
correctly.
There were clear recorded help instructions, and the ballot was
read in full.  One simply pressed number 5 as the desired
selection was being read, and used 6 to go forward, and 4 to go
back.  the machine accepted key presses any time and responded
immediately .

It could not have been easier and more complete.  the system
tells you if you have made any, or enough, selections in each race,
and it was always possible to move back and forth having anything
repeated at any time.  I could use the 5 key to select or
unselect any item again and again

when done, there were two chances to confirm or review the ballot
before submitting it.

My wife voted at the same time using the touch screen feature of
the machine and it took her perhaps 20 minutes to go through a
fairly long and complex ballot.  It only took me about 15 minutes
longer than it did her.  considering that any speech output
process simply has to be slower than most sighted readers, this
speaks well for the system's accessibility.

I suppose there are blind folks out there who would not find such
a system easy too use, but anybody who has worked with a
telephone menu system would find this a snap.

I find it hard to understand the need for special volunteers to
help train the blind,, if the poles in D.C. were going to use the
touch screen systems, for sighted voters, this change would be
very different for sighted folks as compared to the audio
method which seemed familiar and obvious to me.

the one thing I failed to check on is whether the system allows
volume to be adjusted.  It was a little loud, but not
unacceptable.  As the earphones were of the standard "walkman"
type they should be hearing aid compatible.

the keypad is of good quality with easy to feel buttons having a
dot on the 5 key as required.  There was no braille labeling, and
this was not necessary or required by the ADA.

Anybody who knows me at all will tell you that I am known as a
cynic and am hard to impress particularly with new accessibility
stuff.

Well this works fine, first time out of the box.
Very cool indeed!

The folks in the city clerk's office were so thrilled they asked
if they could take my picture while at the machine for there
in-house news letter.
They, of course, said they wouldn't show my face or otherwise
identify me.

The weird thing is that we wouldn't have any of this except for
the 2000 debacle.  The ADA of course set the standards up,
but we can be very sure that if Florida hadn't mucked up so
badly, very few accessible systems would be in place today.

there is at least a small  silver lining to some really dark clouds anyhow.

would I trade in my first accessible secret ballot to get rid of
the result of that election debacle? You bet
your bottom dollar I would, but I don't have that option, so I'll
take what I can get.

Get out and vote folks, even if you aren't so lucky as some of us
to have a truly secret ballot for the first time, critical
thinking and stopping the "pax Americana" juggernaut are going to need
all the help they can get in coming years.

Tom fowle



Net-Tamer V 1.12.0 - Registered


VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
To join or leave the list, send a message to
[log in to unmask]  In the body of the message, simply type
"subscribe vicug-l" or "unsubscribe vicug-l" without the quotations.
 VICUG-L is archived on the World Wide Web at
http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/vicug-l.html