I know that I’m giving away my age here, but this is the eighth time that I have voted in a presidential election. Up to now, I have never been able to vote without sighted assistance. Although I am aware that accessible voting machines have been made widely available; you need to understand that I reside in a very small precinct on an island off the coast of Florida. This is the first time that my precinct had an accessible voting machine. I have always gone to the pole with someone whom I trusted to help me fill out my ballot correctly. I never liked the fact that I was unable to vote without someone’s assistance, and of course, without the privacy that comes with voting independently. This election, I went on my own without knowing that there would be an accessible machine at my precinct this time. I took an Uber to my local library which is where I always go to vote. I walked in alone, and I fully expected to have to ask for sighted assistance from the pole workers. In fact, this is what the election officials told me would happen. To my surprise, I was told that an accessible voting machine had been acquired. I took my ballot, went over to the machine, and sat down. I put on a pair of headsets, and inserted my ballot. I was pleasantly surprised to hear the Alex voice giving me instructions on how to use the machine. I was expecting Fred. The machine has five main buttons, arranged in a diamond shape. Each one is labeled in braille. The top and bottom buttons navigate up and down through your selections. You then press the middle button to make the selection that you want. The machine confirms your selection by reading it back to you. Next, you press the right arrow the go to the next item, and arrow up and down again until you reach the selection you want. You then press the middle button again. The machine read all the choices very well, including all the state constitutional amendments and county referenda. It was so incredibly in powering to read my ballot and make my selections without assistance and without anyone else knowing the choices that I was making. I know that many of you have already experienced accessible voting, and I hope you can remember how it made you feel because that is how I feel today.
If you would like to share your story, you can do so in the comments below. You can also fill out a survey from the National Federation of the Blind that asks you to rate your voting experience. The survey can be found here.
