March 22, 2006

County struggles to comply with law

"Nevada County may not be in compliance with the Help America Vote Act this year, according to the county's clerk-recorder, making it difficult for residents with disabilities to have an equal opportunity to vote.

"Why are we allowing the disenfranchisement of some voters?" asked Ann Guerra, Director of the FREED Center for Independent Living, who spoke at Tuesday's Board of Supervisor's meeting.

"(We're) commending you for taking this issue on," said Ana Acton, systems change advocate for the center. She emphasized the importance of helping people with disabilities to "vote in an individual and private matter the same as everyone else."

Passed in 2002, HAVA requires "states adopt voting systems that are fully accessible by disabled voters and are capable of generating a permanent paper record that can be manually audited, and create a statewide computerized voter registration database," according to the Department of Justice, which on March 1 filed a lawsuit against the State of New York for its failure to comply with the federal law.

In California, some counties are in compliance, while others have yet to meet it.

Neither Guerra nor Acton knew the number of disabled voters in Nevada County unable to vote by absentee ballot who would be enfranchised by full HAVA compliance. However, "people like to go to the polls," said Guerra, adding that turnout among disabled voters is remarkably low.

Nevada County has received $1.7 million in state and federal funds to comply with the federal voting act. Guerra and Acton said it would cost approximately $1 million to outfit county polls with a system called "Automark" - which would likely allow everyone with a disability to vote at the polls - and $125,000 for Votepad, which presents some problems for disabled voters, and may therefore not be eligible for HAVA funding, they said.

However, HAVA compliant equipment may not arrive prior to elections this year, said Kathleen Smith, County Clerk, Recorder, and Registrar of Voters.

"Being prepared for November elections is optimistic," Smith said at the supervisors' meeting Tuesday.

The article is here.

Posted by Randy Riddle at March 22, 2006 09:21 AM