PHOENIX – Sami McGinnis walked through a small conference hall and approached an accessible voting machine – a large screen connected to headphones and a controller with brightly colored buttons – determined to understand and improve her voting experience.
McGinnis, whose worsening vision makes even large-print ballots too hard to use, put on headphones and picked up the controller. She struggled to identify which buttons to push as instructed, as the audio directions moved to the next step before she was ready.
Even with help from a county elections worker, McGinnis couldn’t operate the machine. Frustrated, she put the controller down and took off the headphones.
“I don’t have color, and they say press, I think it’s the red select button,” she said, referring to her inability to see color.
“What is going to tell me what’s red?” she said. “I don’t see it. I don’t know what a select button is. They don’t give me a shape or anything.”
McGinnis was one of around 20 people attending an event Monday at Ability360, a nonprofit organization that says it tries to empower people with disabilities to live independent lives. Maricopa County Elections visited the center to raise awareness about accommodations offered to make voting easier for people with disabilities, highlighting the accessible voting machine.
But as McGinnis learned, the contraptions did not accommodate everyone.
Sept. 12 was the last day to request a mail-in ballot for the Sept. 23 special election to fill a vacancy in the 7th Congressional District, which spans most of the state’s border with Mexico and includes much of Maricopa County.
The accessible voting machine is the main option for people with disabilities who missed the deadline or prefer to vote in person.
It’s intended to let people with disabilities vote without assistance from someone else, elections officials said.
The screen can change the text color and background to improve readability Apart from headphones that offer audio guidance, the controller provides braille instructions.
There’s even a sip-and-puff adapter, which allows people to make selections by inhaling or exhaling through a tube.
Still, the machine proved a challenge for some.
Maricopa County Elections communications coordinator for voter outreach, Angelica Bland, said that if any confusion about the accessible voting device arises – like what McGinnis experienced – people at the voting center can help.
“Voters who wish to use the accessible voting device can have assistance with it via a poll worker if they have any questions on how to use the device when they vote in person at a vote center,” Bland said. “There’s different options for them to get assistance when using the accessible voting device if they have any questions,” she said.
This voting machine isn’t the only option that people with disabilities have to vote. Large print and braille mail-in ballots offer voters the option to vote from the comfort of their own homes.
Jenny Cosgrove is blind in the right half of her vision. She can vote without help using a large-print ballot.
“Having accessible voting options is really critical to me being able to be part of the United States of America voting system,” she said. “The fact that I can get the giant low-vision ballot is glorious because then I can vote by myself for myself, instead of relying on my partner to help me by reading it to me.”
According to Bland, the need for large print or braille ballots is not saved to the voter’s registration information and a voter must submit a request before every election.
Some attendees said mail-in ballots can be very helpful but are an imperfect solution.
Joseph Briceno has inclusion body myositis, which affects his muscles and motor skills. Briceno has been using mail-in ballots so that he can take his time filling them out. This year, he has worries about his voter registration status.
“I try to read and understand, hopefully what’s going on, but I take my time to fill out the paper,” Briceno said. “My concern is that I had gotten a letter saying that … I registered in California to vote, and I said, ‘That’s not possible.’ I’m here.”
Maricopa County Elections officials provide bipartisan teams made up of one Republican and one Democrat to assist with registration and voting. This option is free and needs to be requested by the voter at least seven days before the election.
This alternative doesn’t appeal to those like McGinnis, who said she doesn’t want to have to rely on someone else to cast a ballot.
“I want to do it by myself. I don’t want to be babysat,” McGinnis said. “That’s part of doing it, voting on my own.”
Some attendees said most of the accommodations offered are helpful, though some, like the accessible voting machine, still need improvement.
The face of every attendee lit up as the discussion turned to why the ability to vote is so important.
“We have opinions to give and our country depends on us, too, for guidance,” McGinnis said. “It is very important to me to vote.”
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