By Christy Goodman
Washington Examiner Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 7, 2006

New Technology will enable blind voters and others with disabilities to cast their ballots independently and privately across the region today.

Today’s election marks the first general election where provisions of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 are available to a multitude of voters who previously needed assistance in recording their choice of candidates.

John Pare Jr., a 47-year-old who lost his sight 10 years ago, said voting in the primary without his wife’s assistance “was extremely rewarding for me.”

He also said that he is excited about participating in the general election.

Pare, a spokesman for the National Federation of the Blind, said the new audio components in specially accessible machines required by HAVA are “as easy as operating a phone.”

There are 1.3 million legally blind people in the country and 8.7 million with low vision, he said.

About 50 percent of those people are senior citizens, known to be a strong voting block.

Some voting machines have “sip and puff” technology to allow paralyzed individuals to cast a ballot, said Paul DeGregorio, chairman of the US Election Assistance Commission.

“This is truly historic,” DeGregorio said.

“There is no other country in the world that has this requirement and it does empower people to vote privately and independently.”

“It is important that people realize that the accessible machines are helpful to many more people than to the disabled,” said Jim Dickson, vice president for government affairs for the American Association of People with Disabilities.

People who have learning disabilities and use English as a second language also benefit from the machines, he said.

Dickson, a blind DC resident, was able to first use the technology to vote in the 2004 elections.

He said, anecdotally, “Turnout is up and there is a lot more conversation among the organized disabled about voting than I have ever seen in any election, including the 2004 election.”

Even so, wheelchair accessibility and placement of the machines within polling places are still problematic, Dickson warned.

Each polling place is required to have at least one accessible voting machine or at least curbside voting for the disabled, said James Alcorn, a policy advisor for the Virginia State Board of Elections.