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Home   »  Press / Media  »  Media Releases  »  Ballot Marking Best for Accessible ...


Ballot Marking Best for Accessible and Verifiable Voting

Voters Can Have the Best of Both Worlds
August 3rd, 2005

Verified Voting Foundation Media Release

For Immediate Release: Wednesday, August 3, 2005

Contact:

Will Doherty
Executive Director
Verified Voting Foundation
press@verifiedvoting.org

David Dixon
President
Handicapped Adults of Volusia County
seemor@bellsouth.net

Shawn Casey O'Brien
Co-Host and Co-Producer
KPFK's Disability Awareness Show "Access Unlimited"
irishsob@verizon.net


Ballot Marking Best for Accessible and Verifiable Voting

Voters Can Have the Best of Both Worlds

San Francisco, CA - The Verified Voting Foundation (VVF) today published its initial detailed evaluation of the disability access features of voting systems that provide a voter-verified paper record.

"Our research demonstrates that ballot marking devices -- used by disabled voters to mark paper ballots in precinct-count optical scan voting systems -- provide
the most complete combination of accessibility, accuracy, and verifiability of any voting systems on the market today," said VVF Executive Director Will Doherty. "We urge election administrators to choose a voting system that best meets the right of disabled voters to cast votes privately and independently, as well ensuring the voting system records and counts every vote accurately and securely."

"I want to know that my vote counts," stated David Dixon, President of the Handicapped Adults of Volusia County and a member of the Florida Fair Elections Coalition. Dixon, who is blind and a passionate proponent of verified voting, opposes a lawsuit from the National Federation of the Blind that would prevent the use of ballot marking devices in his home county of Volusia, Florida.

Recently, disabled voting rights advocates and supporters of a voter-verified paper ballot have come together to urge the Election Assistance Commission and state election administrators to require voting systems that are both verifiable and accessible to all voters.

Former Executive Director of the Unique People's Voting Project, Shawn Casey O'Brien, called this meeting of the minds "a great break-through for all parties concerned."

"No one wants votes counted fully, fairly, and accurately, more than disabled citizens do," added O'Brien, who headed a voter registration effort that registered over 100,000 disabled voters. "The nation will feel the real political power of the disability vote now that we have proven that accessibility and the security of our voting systems are completely compatible."

Today, 24 states have requirements for voter-verified paper records and, with the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) mandates, all polling places must soon offer accessible voting systems.

For this release:
http://www.verifiedvotingfoundation.org/article.php?id=6254

Disability access of current verifiable voting technology:
http://www.verifiedvotingfoundation.org/accesscharts

ACB resolution on verifiable and accessible voting:
http://www.verifiedvotingfoundation.org/acb

NAPAS statement protesting punitive lawsuits against AutoMARK ballot-marking device:
http://www.verifiedvotingfoundation.org/napas

NFB lawsuit against ballot marking in Volusia County:
http://www.verifiedvotingfoundation.org/litigation#florida
Additional resources on accessible voting technology:
http://www.verifiedvotingfoundation.org/access

Map showing which states have VVPR requirements:
http://www.verifiedvoting.org

Latest details on verified voting legislation:
http://www.verifiedvoting.org/legis

E-voting malfunctions in the 2004 nationwide election:
http://www.verifiedvotingfoundation.org/article.php?id=5302
and
http://www.verifiedvotingfoundation.org/article.php?id=5331


PRESSLIST: Media professionals are invited to subscribe to the Verified Voting presslist at
http://www.verifiedvotingfoundation.org/presslist


About the Verified Voting Foundation:

The Verified Voting Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization championing reliable and publicly verifiable elections. Founded by Stanford University Computer Science Professor David Dill, the organization supports a requirement for voter-verified paper ballots for all voting technology, including electronic voting machines, to allow voters to inspect individual permanent records of
their ballots and election officials to conduct meaningful recounts and audits. The organization's website is at
http://www.verifiedvotingfoundation.org/

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    • "The core of our American democracy is the right to vote. Implicit in that right is the notion that that vote be private, that vote be secure, and that vote be counted as it was intended when it was cast by the voter. And I think what we're encountering is a pivotal moment in our democracy where all of that is being called into question." (more here)

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