Blind voters sue, demand touch-screen vote machines

By JAMES MILLER    Daytona News-Journal   July 06, 2005

The other shoe fell emphatically in Volusia County's touch-screen voting drama Tuesday.

Seeking to overrule a County Council decision not to buy touch-screen voting machines, the National Federation of the Blind and its Florida affiliate sued in federal district court in Orlando.

Touch-screen opponents have fought the machines because they don't use paper ballots that can be recounted if necessary. Last week the County Council rejected for the second time a proposal to buy the machines.

But state law requires counties to have disability-accessible equipment for the first election after July 1, and so far only the touch screens have been certified.

"This (council decision) is stepping on my civil rights as an American and a Floridian," said Kathy Davis, president of the National Federation of the Blind of Florida and its greater Daytona Beach chapter and one of five individual plaintiffs. "I have the right to vote independently and in private, and so do all other blind people."

The next elections in Volusia are municipal elections set for October, and the suit asks for an emergency ruling to meet that deadline, said Baltimore-based attorney Marty Schreiber, one of the attorneys representing the national federation. It also seeks attorneys' fees.

The 210 machines, which Volusia County Supervisor of Elections Ann McFall said would be used alongside the county's current paper ballot system, would cost about $800,000 in federal grant money.

But opposition to the machines has been as staunch as support for them.

Touch-screen opponents have aggressively lobbied the council for months, saying the machines are prone to manipulation and mishaps that can't be traced without paper ballots.

County Chairman Frank Bruno, who voted against the touch screens, has said he wants to protect the election process for all residents by maintaining a paper ballot or something very much like it.

On Tuesday, he argued that Volusia had long been proactive in helping its residents with disabilities and remained optimistic that equipment that meets everyone's needs will eventually be found.

"No matter what we were doing, I guess we were going to get sued one way or the other," he said.

The lawsuit almost certainly won't be the last. Both the American Association of People with Disabilities and the Halifax Council of the Blind have promised legal action.