State of Minnesota moves to fulfill disabled voting mandate

By Charley Shaw    St. Paul Legal-Ledger    09 November 2005
Election officials announced a "major leap forward" last week toward fulfilling a federal mandate to make it possible for people with disabilities to vote independently.

Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer said the state has entered into a contract with a Nebraska company that will give counties throughout the state a deal on buying new voting equipment.

The AutoMARK ballot-marking technology, made by Election Systems & Software of Omaha, Neb., assists disabled voters in a variety of ways. For example, it provides headphones for blind voters, offers a zoom feature on a screen to increase the ballot's font size and provides a puff tube for voters who can't use their hands to make voting ions.

Ken Rodgers, the president of the Minnesota chapter of the American Council of the Blind, said people with disabilities face challenges such as finding transportation to the polling place and handling the current voting technology.

He said the new systems will draw people to their polling places on Election Day who would have stayed home on account of their disabilities.

"Now there is an incentive for people to get a ride to the polling place," Rodgers said.

Congress passed the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) in 2002. It requires privacy and independence for every voter. It also requires safeguards to be put in place to insure the accuracy of each vote.

Minnesota has received $35 million from the federal government to "pass through" to local units of government. Minnesota's 4,000 precincts will each receive $7,000. An additional $3,000 is available for precincts that count ballots by hand or use the central-count system.

The machines need to be in place for any federal election taking place after Jan. 1, 2006, Kiffmeyer said.

The terminals will provide precincts that don't have optical scan machines with the ability to detect and correct ballot errors.

"Areas of our state without this technology - roughly half the precincts containing 20 percent of the population - have not had this opportunity, which means those areas of the state have had higher ballot error rates and more votes that have not counted. But that's about to change," Kiffmeyer said.

Election Systems & Software, which was the only company to bid on the state's contract, is offering the machines at a base price of $4,886 apiece.

Eric Lipman, a former Republican state representative from Lake Elmo, said the initiative comes after a "long legislative struggle" and the technology represents a new chapter in the state's civil rights history.

Kiffmeyer mentioned the efforts of Minnesota elected officials, including the late Sen. Paul Wellstone, a Democrat, and Sen. Norm Coleman and Rep. John Kline, both Republicans. She also noted the efforts of state Rep. Bill Hilty, DFL-Finlayson.