Better access to polls sought

Whether casting paper or electronic ballots, disabled people want to make sure that they have the ability to vote privately and can easily access polling places.

That was the primary message delivered during a public hearing about the future of voting in Utah, which will almost surely be done through some sort of computerized balloting by 2006. The hearing was held Thursday evening at the Utah Capitol by the Voting Equipment Selection Committee, which is developing guidelines for voting machines that will replace the current punch-card ballots.

More than half of the 25 people in attendance were either disabled-rights advocates, blind, used wheelchairs, mentally challenged or otherwise disabled, and all of them urged improvements in not only voting systems but the polling locations and assistance offered to them. Many of them pointed to the millions of dollars which the state and counties will spend on the new machines, and urged the committee to devote some of that money to making sure that everyone could vote.

Deborah Taylor, who is confined to a wheelchair and works for an independent living center in Logan, said that a 2002 survey of the city's 90-plus polling locations turned up problems at every place. Typically, schools or government buildings are used for voting.

"We did not find one single polling place in Logan that was fully accessible," she said. "Getting there physically is one of the biggest problems for all disabled people, whether they're in a wheelchair, using a cane or blind."

Fraser Nelson, executive director of the Disability Law Center, said that without improved access, the type of voting system doesn't matter for the approximately 300,000 disabled people in Utah.

"If you can't get in the building to cast your ballot, what kind of machine you vote on is kind of a moot point," she said. "Access to polling places is our primary focus."

Besides access, other speakers cautioned the committee about the lack of security with some voting machines and urged them to proceed cautiously to make sure that the computerized equipment could not be manipulated. After all, computer programmer Larry Bergan said, computers can be told to do whatever people want them to do.

"You don't need to be a computer expert to know that a computer can be told to make two-plus-two add up to anything," he said. "I believe in virtual reality programming, but I don't believe in virtual reality voting."

Jeff Dalby, a 19-year-old who voted for the first time in 2002, said that he takes the decisions made on the ballot very seriously and would hate to find out that the votes he cast were not recorded.

"I just want to make sure that my vote counts, that the person I vote for gets that vote," he said. "It's a privilege most of you have had for much of your lives, and I don't want to become an exception to that."

The committee plans to continue meeting biweekly until it has finalized the request for proposal for new voting equipment, a task which will most likely be completed by early summer. According to the Help America Vote Act, passed by Congress following the 2000 election, all states must have replaced their punch-card systems by the 2006 elections.

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E-mail: jloftin@desnews.com