March 06, 2006

County gets peek at assistance devices for disabled voters

"Providing independent voting options for people with disabilities to comply with the Help America Vote Act of 2002 is posing challenges for many jurisdictions in the country.

Although electronic voting devices are becoming more prevalent, one Washington State-based company is taking a low-tech approach to provide cash-strapped and electricity challenged precincts with voting options for the blind, deaf and disabled.

The Voting-on-Paper Assistive Device, or Vote-PAD equipment, was presented at the Humboldt County Elections Advisory Committee Thursday evening.

According to the company Vote-PAD, Inc., the Vote-PAD device is an inexpensive, non-electronic, voter-assist device that helps most people with visual or dexterity impairments to vote and can be customized for different election’s hand-counted or optically-scanned paper ballots.

Dianna Smith, a Vote-PAD representative, described the booklet-style voting aid for the committee and walked the members through how it was used.

Smith said most people’s initial reaction was that it looked too simple.

“The simplicity is the beauty of it,” she said.

The article is here.

Posted by Randy Riddle at March 6, 2006 11:04 AM