Handicapped Voting at the National Guard Armory in Lebanon, Indiana - Responses

From: <name removed>
To: bill @ orangefrogproductions.com
Sent: Sunday, August 12, 2007 1:10 PM
Subject: Handicapped Voting at the National Guard Armory in Lebanon, Indiana

Dear Mr Sanders,

My name is <name removed>, I live in rural Lebanon and came across your web blog (I was looking for local blogs) I was particularly struck by your post on difficulties voting at the National Armory. I have been involved with Indiana’s Council for People with disabilities for several years and wanted to make sure you were aware of their work and intuitive on voter accessibility. They can provide you information on the requirements for accessibility of voting places. If your voting place does not meet those requirements it can and should be moved to another location. While absentee voting or voting at the court house are options you have the right to have an accessible precinct to cast your vote at on election day. Please see the following for further information.

I hope this is helpful to you

<name removed>

[NOTE: The following has been slightly reformatted, including color. -wds]

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INDIANA GOVERNOR'S PLANNING COUNCIL FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

Count Us IN is a new Council project designed to increase the number of Hoosiers with disabilities who are involved in the electoral process as voters and volunteers. Traditionally, people with disabilities have lagged behind other Americans when it comes to voting. People with disabilities are registered to vote at a rate that is at least 10% less than the overall population; voter turnout for people with disabilities is about 20% less than the population in general. To learn how you can get involved with Count Us IN, contact the Project Director Julia Vaughn at 317-234-2226 or CountUsIN@gpcpd.org.

Count Us IN seeks to close these gaps by organizing leadership teams of people with disabilities and other advocates at the local level to engage in the following activities:

Survey Polling Places for Accessibility

Count Us IN is assisting the Indiana Secretary of State and individual counties in coordinating efforts to insure that counties are in compliance with the accessibility provisions of HAVA, the Help America Vote Act and the state's HAVA implementation plan. HAVA requires all polling places and voting equipment to be fully accessible by January 1, 2006. One component of this project will be accessibility surveys of polling places. About 1/2 of the counties will be surveyed on May 4, 2004 with the remaining counties to be surveyed on November 6, 2004.

Surveyors are eligible to receive a $10 stipend for every polling place surveyed and must commit to conducting at least 5 surveys. Each survey takes approximately 20 minutes. For more information about the polling place surveys, contact Julia Vaughn at 317-234-[2]226 or countusin@gpcpd.org

The Indiana State HAVA Implementation Plan includes the following accessibility provisions:

• Every polling place in the state – more than 4000 sites – must be surveyed for accessibility.
• Counties are required to form local advisory councils composed of voters with disabilities, elderly voters and local election officials. The councils will review the results of polling place accessibility surveys and make recommendations for renovations or relocations to more accessible sites.
• Counties will be required to certify that they meet all accessibility requirements, both with voting technology and polling places, before they are reimbursed for the purchase of new voting machines.

Voter Registration - The National Voter Registration Act or "Motor Voter" law requires all public and private agencies and individuals serving people with disabilities to offer voter registration. Despite the law, a 2000 National Organization on Disability/Harris poll indicated that only 44 percent of people with disabilities have been offered registration services. Count Us IN will work with the Secretary of State's office, the Indiana Election Division, state agencies, not-for-profit organizations and others to ensure that all who have an obligation to offer voter registration are doing so. We will also work with disabilities advocacy groups to conduct voter registration drives. For voter registration forms and other information please see the see the Secretary of State's Election Division website.

Get Out The Disability Vote - Count Us IN will work with service providers, advocacy groups, civic organizations and others to increase the disability vote in the 2002 fall election by 10%. This get out the vote effort will be non-partisan and will include voter education activities such as candidate forums and candidate surveys. Please see the National Organization on Disability website [NOTE: Original link didn't work - changed to go straight to home page] for detailed information about getting out the disability vote.

Volunteer

One of the best ways to become a political activist is to get directly involved in the process. Contact your County Clerk's office to find out about working at the polls - these are paid positions and direct interaction with other pollworkers is a great way to sensitize them to the needs of voters with disabilities. Another great way to get involved is by volunteering for the political party or candidate of your choice. Campaigns are always looking for volunteers to perform a variety of tasks and again, this is a good way to raise awareness of disability issues within the campaign itself.