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
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