Great news! FL federal judge rules DRE machines aren't required by fall!

[flpoljunkie]

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/volusia/orl-locvvote22072205jul22,0,3863451,print.story?coll=orl-news-headlines-volusia

Touch-screen machines aren't required in fall elections, he says

By Kevin P. Connolly
Sentinel Staff Writer

July 22, 2005

DELAND -- In a victory for Volusia County and foes of paperless voting, a federal judge Thursday denied blind advocates' demand for disability-accessible, touch-screen voting devices in Volusia for the Oct. 11 city elections.

U.S. District Judge John Antoon II said previous court cases and existing federal law do not require equipment for visually disabled people to vote independently.

Antoon also shot down arguments from attorneys for the National Federation of the Blind and others suing Volusia County that a state law requires accessible voting devices for elections after July 1.

He noted that accessibility requirements under the federal Help America Vote Act take effect Jan. 1, and federal grants to help pay for accessible devices must be returned if they are not spent by that date.

But the state law merely authorizes the use of electronic voting devices and provides standards for certifying such equipment, Antoon said in his six-page ruling.

The state law "simply has no bearing," he wrote in his order denying the NFB's request for a preliminary injunction to force the county to purchase touch-screens. The devices allow the visually disabled to vote without assistance because they have "audio ballots" and headphones.

more..

[flpoljunkie]

1. Ruling being appealed to the 11th Circuit in Atlanta. Florida DOE unhappy

with the ruling, of course.

You have to ask yourself why the Republican machine is working hand in glove with the National Federation of the Blind to bring the visually impaired and us machines that are easy to use but produce election results which cannot be verified--that is, cannot be recounted.

[oneold1-4u]

2. Ballots in Braille

Surely this is a forerunner of button-no-paper machines and should be done by mail with 30 days, and recoverable ballot through blind organizations when necessary.
This same program should be available to the deaf as well as the blind because the deaf far outnumber blind!
The Lions International Org. and AARP Would be a good source of help with this plan.
It is already a fact that mail ballots are proved to be the the easiest, most cost efficient, personal, record-able, way to vote for all!

[flpoljunkie]

3. LTTE reports that Diebold was the sponsor of the NFB Florida conference!

http://www.news-journalonline.com/03LettersIndex.htm

County Council's choice supported

Re "Will fight for private vote," July 18 letter:

In her letter excoriating the Volusia County Council for rejecting the purchase of Diebold touch-screen voting machines and The News-Journal for supporting that decision, Kathy Davis failed to inform the public that she is president of the National Federation of the Blind of Florida, the organization suing the County Council, and that, according to its Web site (www.nfbflorida.org), the 2005 convention of this organization is being sponsored by Diebold Election Systems.

Ms. Davis claims "nothing is wrong" with the Diebold touch-screen machines. To the contrary, there is a great deal wrong with these machines. She says a recount can be done by producing copies of the votes with a printer. But printers simply repeat what is recorded (or programmed to be recorded) in the machine, and voters have no assurance that their votes are recorded correctly. Moreover, these machines, like any computer, are subject to electronic failure, and when that happens votes are irretrievably lost and cannot be reproduced for a recount. The printer module proposed in the Diebold contract with the county has not been certified by the state and therefore could not be legally purchased by Volusia County.

Disabled persons are not being treated like "second-class citizens" as Ms. Davis claims. The Volusia County Council fully intends to have verifiable voting machines accessible not only to the blind but to persons of other disabilities in place by Jan. 1, the federal deadline for compliance with the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). It is the state of Florida, not the County Council, that is putting Volusia's compliance in jeopardy by dragging its feet in certifying the AutoMARK, an alternative voting system for the disabled that uses a paper ballot and is accessible to all disabled persons. This is the system the County Council originally contracted to buy and still wants to buy when it is certified by the state.

SYLVIA PERKINS, DeLand