As a disabled voter, I found it is easier to vote in Nashville now than before | Opinion

• Alex Hubbard is assistant opinion editor for the Tennessean and USA TODAY NETWORK Tenn. columnist.

I was initially apprehensive when I learned earlier this spring that the Davidson County Election Commission was set to acquire new voting machines.

Though I support producing a paper record, one of the chief features of the machines that were put in use for the Aug. 1 Metro election, I was concerned about the possible impact it would have on my ability to vote independently as a blind person.

I am perhaps among the first generation of blind people to vote completely independently, and I cherish fiercely that private right.

Only once since I first voted in 2008 have I not been afforded a voting machine that I could operate without sighted assistance.

But in the mix of demands surrounding purchasing new equipment, accessibility for the disabled sometimes is not a priority either because of ignorance or genuine misunderstanding.

“It’s true that voting technology and voting machines vary from state to state, and even one county might have one type and the other might have a different one,” said Lisa Schur, a professor at Rutgers University who, along with husband and fellow Rutgers professor Douglas Kruse, are perhaps the foremost authorities on disability and voting. “It’s a little roll of the device.”

The 'disability gap' shows voters with disabilities have a lower turnout rate

Though Schur and Kruse haven’t been able to measure the impact of inaccessible voting machines, they did say, in a telephone interview, that such machines do affect what is known as the disability gap, or the difference in turnout among disabled voters compared with voters without disabilities.

In 2016 that gap was 6.3 percentage points.

Among eligible voters, some 55.9% of people with disabilities voted, while the turnout for people without disabilities was 62.2%, according to a study Schur and Kruse conducted.

The gap shrank during the 2018 midterms to 4.7 percentage points.

Interestingly, among disabled voters who work, the disability gap almost disappears, which suggests a greater explanation having to do with societal integration.

“Some of our resources suggest that the lower turnout of people with disabilities is partially due because they don’t feel welcomed at polling places along with not understanding the machines,” Kruse said.

How the new Davidson County voting machines work better now

It was with great relief, when I stood at the machine to cast my ballot during early voting in July, that I realized the new machine was quite an improvement from the earlier generation.

Outfitted with a handheld controller, which can be held in the lap of a wheelchair user, the talking machine is meticulously labeled in Braille such that a blind person can not only vote but power up the machine and insert the paper ballot card with no assistance necessary.

I didn’t know this at that time, but Davidson County Elections Administrator Jeff Roberts told me that every machine is now accessible to the blind. No more will blind people have to be led to a special machine, often tucked away, that poll workers may themselves be uncomfortable operating.

One or two machines in each precinct are wheelchair accessible and can be accessed with a sip-and-puff device for voters who lack the use of their hands, Roberts said.

“The accessibility of the machines was part of the evaluation that determined which vendor we purchased machines from,” Roberts told me, detailing the monthslong procurement process that began late last year.

The previous machines were 12 years old. While the disability-accessible machines were certainly usable, they weren’t all that intuitive, and I regularly spent long minutes reminding myself how they worked.

Additionally, if that one machine in the precinct wasn’t working, or the poll workers didn’t want to fool with it, disabled voters had no choice but to either get assistance from someone, a privacy violation, or not vote.

I have almost always had unfailingly kind poll workers when I vote. Many of them tell me they read this column — hello, and I will see you soon in the Metro runoff.

But once, when I voted on Election Day instead of early, I was relegated to having someone assist me in voting. What if I didn’t want to tell anyone whom I voted for? What if I didn’t trust them to enter my choice if they didn’t like it?

We all have the right to vote, but do we all have the ability to vote?

“The ability to vote is extremely important, especially to vote in a confidential way,” Schur said, “and that is when these new technologies can be most important. We know the people that do vote who have disabilities are most likely to vote by mail, and that’s the thing we don’t know how confidential those ballots are if their family are helping them.”

Counties have different election systems

Davidson County has done very well to ensure the integrity of the election system by producing a paper record, while simultaneously maintaining and even improving the experience for disabled voters.

Thinking of Goodlettsville, which spills over into Sumner County and has officials elected by residents of both Davidson and Sumner counties, I checked with Sumner County Elections Administrator Lori Atchley to see how the process there may differ.

Atchley told me that each precinct has one box-like device that may plug into an existing voting machine that will enable blind voters to independently cast a ballot. She described in some detail how wheelchair users may cast ballots using the county’s voting machines, which Atchley said date from 2006.

“We have everything that complies with the (Americans with Disabilities Act) requirements,” she said.

This is important, and people with disabilities who may previously have found the process daunting, confusing or unwelcoming should get registered and come out to participate in our republic.

Alex Hubbard is assistant opinion editor for The Tennessean and USA TODAY Network - Tennessee columnist. Email him at dhubbard@tennessean.com or follow him on Twitter @alexhubbard7.

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