[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Fwd: FW: [election_stats] Breaking News: Dozens of Disability Groups Announce Opposition to DRE Voting Machines
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Andy Bardwell <andy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mar 15, 2007 9:42 AM
Subject: FW: [election_stats] Breaking News: Dozens of Disability Groups Announce Opposition to DRE Voting Machines
To: Claudia Kuhns <claudiakuhns@xxxxxxxxxxx>, Margit Johansson <
margitjo@xxxxxxxxx>
___________________________________________________________________________
Philosopher, mathematician, and writer, Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970) once
said, " Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent
revolution inevitable."
Bardwell Consulting
Robert A(ndy) Bardwell, Ph.D.
4801 W. Yale Ave.
Denver, CO 80219
Voice: 303-934-3851
Cell: 720-219-3627
Fax: 303-975-8513
www.bardwellconsulting.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Kathy Dopp [mailto:
kathy.dopp@xxxxxxxxx]
Sent: 03/14/2007 11:11 PM
To: uscv_voting_activists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; Election Stats
Subject: [election_stats] Breaking News: Dozens of Disability Groups
Announce Opposition to DRE Voting Machines
Breaking News:
In the last few days, dozens of representatives of Disability Groups have
publicly announced their opposition to DRE electronic-ballot Voting Machines
BradBlog article: URL to article on this topic:
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4270
Report by Blind Voter and Computer Scientist Noel Runyan
http://www.voteraction.org/reports/nrreport/Improving_Access_to_Voting_.pdf
ACLU and Disability Law Center Against DREs and For Optical Scan Paper
Ballot Printers
http://www.aclu-mass.org/news/03.05.07_Voting_Tech_web.pdf
Below (in full) Statement of Americans with Disabilities with Numerous
Signatories
--------------------------------------------------
Americans with Disabilities Call for Election Systems Featuring Both
Accessibility and Security
Voters with disabilities, sensory impairments, and special language needs
have long been disenfranchised in large numbers as a result of lack of
access to the voting process. For many of us, the passage of the Help
America Vote Act of 2002 held tremendous hope and promise for secure and
reliable voting, a guarantee that every voter would have access to the
voting process.
Electronic ballot systems such as the direct record electronic (DRE)
machines (formerly called "touch screens") now in use have quickly proven to
be neither fully accessible to all voters nor secure and accurate methods of
recording, tallying, and reporting votes. While the goal of private voting
has been achieved by some voters, this has often been without meaningful
assurance that our votes have been counted as cast. Additionally, many other
voters have been disappointed and frustrated because we have not been able
to vote privately and independently as we had hoped and as voting-system
vendors had promised.
It is now clear that in order to guarantee reliability and security in our
elections, it is necessary for the voter to be able to truly verify the
accuracy of his or her ballot--the ballot that will actually be counted. The
only voting systems that permit truly accessible verification of the paper
ballot are ballot marking devices. These non-tabulating devices, either
electronic or non-electronic, assist the voter in marking and verifying
votes on paper ballots that can either be optically scanned or hand-counted.
(Some DRE voting machines that have already been purchased may be adapted to
be used as acceptable ballot marking devices, assuming their accessibility
can be preserved or improved.)
The technology for inexpensively providing good accessibility to voting
systems has been commonly available for more than a decade, and it can and
should immediately be required for and applied to all modern voting systems.
This is clearly illustrated by the report "Improving Access to Voting:
A report on the Technology for Accessible Voting Systems," by Noel Runyan,
(WORD | PDF | large-print | braille) posted at VoterAction.org and
Demos.org. Design of new systems must include, from the beginning,
accommodations to allow private and independent voting by individuals with a
broad range of access needs. These systems must simultaneously ensure secure
elections.
We leaders and members of the disability rights community assert that
neither accessibility for all voters nor the security of the vote can be
sacrificed for the sake of the other. Fortunately, true accessibility and
election security can both be achieved; there is no inherent incompatibility
between voting system accessibility and security.
We recognize that electronic ballot systems are inappropriate for use,
because these systems make it impossible for voters to verify that their
votes will be counted as cast. We call upon all disability rights groups,
other civil rights groups, election protection groups, and elected officials
to recognize the necessity for an immediate ban on any voting system that
fails to meet the twin requirements of full accessibility and election
security.
---------------------------------------------------
List of signatories as of 3/14/07 (affiliations are listed for
identification purposes only):
Noel Runyan, Voting access technology engineer and author of "Improving
Access to Voting"
Roger Petersen, member, Santa Clara County Advisory Commission for Persons
with Disabilities and Santa Clara County Voter Access Advisory Committee
Bernice Kandarian, President, Council of Citizens with Low Vision
International
Robert Kerr, ACB Maryland
Shawn Casey O'Brien, KPFK-FM in Los Angeles, and California Secretary of
State's Ad Hoc Touch Screen Task Force member
Suzanne Erb, Chairperson of the Philadelphia Mayor's Commission on
Disabilities
Mike Keithley
A. J. Devies, Past President, Handicapped Adults of Volusia County (HAVOC);
Charter Member, Daytona Beach Mayor's Alliance for Persons with
Disabilities; Disability Consultant and Board Member, Florida Fair Elections
Coalition
Marta Russell, independent journalist and author
Judith K. Barnes, Life Member, Council of Citizens With Low Vision; Former
President, Silicon Valley Council of the Blind
George Moore, Accessibility Advocate, Californians for Disability Rights
Mike May, President, Sendero Group
Margaret Keith, VP, Monterey Co. Chapter, Californians for Disability Rights
Adrienne Lauby, Host/Producer, Pushing Limits, disability program on KPFA fm
David Andrews
Jean Stewart, Writer
Ruthanne Shpiner, Pushing Limits Radio 94.1 FM, Northern California ADAPT
Mike Godino, President, American Council of the Blind of New York, Systems
Advocate, Suffolk Independent Living Organization
Louis Herrera
Dawn Wilcox, BSN RN, Past President Silicon Valley Council of the Blind,
Board member CCCLV
Barry Scheur, Scheur & Associates
Tom Fowle, Rehabilitation Engineer, The Smith-Kettlewell Rehabilitation
Engineering Research Center, San Francisco
-----------------------------------
forwarded by:
Kathy Dopp
http://electionarchive.org
National Election Data Archive
Dedicated to Accurately Counting Elections Subscribe to announcements by
emailing election-subscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Please donate or volunteer.
"Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and
mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day," wrote Thomas
Jefferson in 1816
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail:
uscv_stats-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
For additional commands, e-mail: uscv_stats-help@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx