The controversy surrounding e-balloting will not not be a factor in Minnesota on Election Day. We are sticking with machine-scannable paper ballots. To accommodate voters with disabilities, every polling station will be equipped with a device that scans the ballot and puts the text on a touch-screen. Voters can make their selection via touch-screen and, once the choices are confirmed, they are automatically transcribed to a regular paper ballot. A sip-and-puff input system is available for voters with mobility impairments and voters with visual impairments can make choices via audio cues. This seems like a good compromise between the security concerns of e-voting and the need to make voting accessible to everyone. I’m not sure if I’ll use it myself; sip-and-puff doesn’t work well for me. I do hope that the Secretary of State does some awareness building about these machines and that it encourages more people with disabilities to go to the polls. Absentee ballots are a fine alternative, but I think it’s important for people with disabilities to be seen voting alongside the rest of their communities. A lot of people have worked hard to increase accessibility at the polls. The least we can do is show up.
Someone on Bush’s speechwriting staff must have a fondness for the absurd. “Catastrophic success?” The hell? That’s a bit like saying we had to destroy the village to save it, isn’t it?
