A strong vote for ballot access

This fall, for the first time in my life, I am doing something most Americans take for granted. By using a new electronic voting machine that helps people with disabilities, I am voting on my own, indicating my preferences for who should run things in my area and how, without relying on someone to translate or convey my preferences for me.

This simple yet transformative activity is the result of years of effort by many people (some disabled like me, some not) who have been actively involved in our state's implementation of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) on behalf of voters with disabilities.

Like most voters, we want fair elections and the opportunity to vote independently and have that process work well — not just the equipment, but the whole process, from casting the ballot to having it counted accurately.

The driving forces behind the Help America Vote Act were, in fact, issues around voter intent in elections. There have been frustrations, mistakes and questions about voter intent that delayed and cast doubt on election results in recent years and led to long-delayed action on this issue.

Despite that, as I vote this fall, these will be the most fair elections that I have ever voted in. I have never had the right to vote an independent ballot before now and had no way of knowing that my vote was ever cast accurately, until now.

The new voting equipment makes this possible. As an information-technology professional and person with disabilities, I am extremely excited about the positive impact this will have on voting access in our state.

So, when people debate the validity of the whole election process, remember that an independent ballot — something that most voters take for granted — is something that many Americans with disabilities have not had at all.

With that said, this is not an effort to politicize the issue of accessibility. By far, accessibility is not the only issue at hand here. In considering election equipment in our own state, for example, we must comply with the federal HAVA standards, and with rigorous state regulatory standards and local acceptance testing in each county to ensure the integrity and accuracy of each device. The voting systems must also meet the federal requirements for disability access.

In Washington state, we have even gone a step further than many states to ensure accuracy and clarity of voter intent by adding the voter-verified paper audit trail to the system. Finally, if individuals do not want to vote by casting a ballot on the electronic machines, there are alternatives to that system available in our state. Again, all of these tools are positively transforming the way voters of all ages and abilities participate in our democracy.

There are people who do not want the new electronic voting equipment implemented. They say it's because the machines do not provide access for all people with disabilities and cite some good examples. It's probably worth noting, though, that most of those who object to implementing the equipment are not people with disabilities.

Most of us with disabilities know that accessibility improves over time as the requirements are implemented and expanded. In this case, the manufacturers are addressing federal accessibility requirements, so it is difficult to add additional requirements at the state or local level.

But we can advocate that additional federal requirements be added over time, which will further increase access to voting for more people with disabilities. I, for one, looked forward to casting my first independently cast ballot on Tuesday.

Debbie Cook is director of the Washington Assistive Technology Alliance and a consultant on technology-accessibility issues for the Washington State Department of Services for the Blind.