Last Friday a group of volunteers for a non-partisan veteran’s organization went to a Veterans Administration facility in San Francisco to meet with veterans and to provide them with an opportunity to register to vote. Just a couple weeks ago the Department of Veterans Affairs relented under pressure from state and national election officials, veteran’s advocacy groups, and legislators and agreed to allow non-partisan voter registration drives in their facilities. Contrary to assurances from the DVA the volunteers were stopped and told that for them to meet with residents they would have to go through a back-ground check to ensure they were, in fact, non-partisan and each visitor would have to submit to tuberculosis screening, a process that requires two medical appointments. A federal judge has already found that the DVA cannot impose special limitations on visitors simply based on their message. The DVA, at least in San Francisco, has decided to ignore the court and impose those special limitations. …
- National: Exclusive: Dept. Of Veterans Affairs Continues To Violate Law, Block Voter Registration Drives for Wounded Warriors
https://bradblog.com/?p=6389 - National: Will Americans Be Able to Trust the Vote Count in 2008? And, What Can We Do to Protect the Integrity of Elections?
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Election-Theft-for-2008-Al-by-Kevin-Zeese-080915-186.html - National: Victory in the Voting Rights Battle
http://www.aei.org/publications/filter.all,pubID.28620/pub_detail.asp - National: Electronic voter-registration databases put to the test
http://news.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080915/NEWS19/809150342/1232 - National: American Statistical Association Endorses Statistical Principles of ElectionAudits.org‘s Post-Election Audits Document
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/09/prweb1329704.htm - National: ATMs as voting machines: An idea whose time hasn’t come
As 2000’s contentious election fades, so has the call to vote via ATM
http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/atm-voting-machines-1273.php - National: How To Steal An Election
http://www.opednews.com/articles/How-To-Steal-An-Election-by-Brian-Lynch-080914-382.html - National: Election Process Made Easier for Military and Overseas Voters With the Launch of New Ballot Tool
http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/news_room_detail.aspx?id=44136 - National: Voting Groups Release Guidelines for E-voting Checks
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/151096/voting_groups_release_guidelines_for_evoting_checks.html - AZ: It’s The Ballot Count, Stupid! Florida Déjà Vu in Arizona
http://www.vadimuspost.com/it%E2%80%99s-the-ballot-count-stupid/ - AZ: Pima County – Pima primary vote certified, despite activists’ complaints
http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/257363 - AZ: Pima County – Calls for Removal of Election Director After Arrest of Tucson, AZ Election Integrity Advocate
https://bradblog.com/?p=6388 - CO: Mesa County ballot lengthy; mail-in requests up
http://www.gjsentinel.com/hp/content/news/stories/2008/09/13/091408_3A_ballot_costs.html - FL: Haitian Advocate Cries Foul On Voter ID Law
http://www.caribbeanworldnews.com/middle_top_news_detail.php?mid=1417 - FL: Palm Beach County says it’s accounted for all but 12 missing ballots
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2008/09/15/0915recount.html - HI: Tests Ensure Voting System Ready For Primary
Independent Observers Help Test System
http://www.kitv.com/news/17469591/detail.html - IN: Delaware County — Opinion – Ball State might not be best site for satellite voting center
http://www.thestarpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080914/OPINION/809140322 - MI: Bad voter applications found
Clerks see fraudulent, duplicate forms from group
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080914/NEWS03/809140383 - NY: Local elections officials move cautiously toward new voting process
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20080914/OPINION02/809140346/1039/OPINION - OH: Franklin County – Vote absentee to avoid long lines, county says
http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/09/14/absentee.ART_ART_09-14-08_B1_27BAN57.html?sid=101 - TN: Surge in voter registrations in full swing in Sullivan County
http://www.timesnews.net/article.php?id=9008126 - WI: McCain’s mailer creates controversy
http://www.madison.com/wsj/topstories/304740 - WI: Editorial – Quest for zero voter fraud threatens legitimate ballots
http://www.tomahjournal.com/articles/2008/09/15/opinion/01edvoting.txt
**”Daily Voting News” is meant as a comprehensive listing of reports each day concerning issues related to election and voting news around the country regardless of quality or political slant. Therefore, items listed in “Daily Voting News” may not reflect the opinions of VotersUnite.Org or BradBlog.Com**
I made the National Voter Registration form accessible to the blind and the American Foundation for the Blind tested it and it works with JAWS and Window Eyes, the screen readers used by the blind. They are sending my form to the Secretary of State of West Virginia because it is accessible to the blind.
My form could be of help to the veterans because they can fill it out using screen readers.
I sent my form to the EAC, the Elections Assistance Commission and at first they wanted to see the forms and then after I sent them, they said that their webmaster was charged with making the website accessible to the blind and they didn’t need any help.
Their webmaster was supposed to make their forms and site to be accessible to the blind in 2000 under section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and so my form proves that they did not do their jobs. So I contacted the Voting Rights Division of the ACLU.
Washington State wrote back that they are not required to make voter registration accessible to the blind which is of course completely wrong, they are required under a half of a dozen different laws to be accessible.
Arkansas wrote that they required the blind to draw a map on the form to indicate where they live. I had removed that sight test and replaced it with a place to describe where they lived. But the state of Arkansas insists on the blind drawing the map.
The webmaster of the Secretary of State of Texas said that he and his staff had worked for months on their online form and he claimed it was accessible to CSS. This of course means nothing and he never tested his page with the screen readers used by the blind. If he did he would have noticed that it is not accessible. He could have put my form up on his site, but he refused because they were goign with his form. So the blind in Texas do not have an accessible voter registration form. Also how much did that form cost the state?
My form is a PDF form that is accessible to the blind. It is proven to be accessible, but all these people are doing is denying the 1.8 million Americans who are legally blind, as well as the 10 Million americans who are visually impaired, the ability to fill out the voter registration form just like anyone else.
The blind are 70% unemployed, they have less than half the number of people graduating from college as sighted people and they have no consituency.
My form not only illustrates the absurdity of the Secretary of States, but it shows how inaccessible the states are in every other form and website.
I had tunnel vision in college. I received my sight back and so I developed this process to make life better for the blind. Help me to emanicpate the blind!
James G. Pepper