Remote accessible absentee ballot marking tool comes online ahead of May election
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH)– Voting just got easier for people with visibility and print impairments, thanks to a remote absentee ballot marking tool.
The Indiana Election Commission, Indiana Disability Rights, and others have reached a settlement in a lawsuit calling for accessible absentee voting options. The next step: rolling out a remote absentee ballot marking tool, which will take away the need to have election workers, friends, or family fill it out for you.
It’s been years in the making, but a legal fight to improve voting access for people with visibility and print disabilities is finally over.
“I am very pleased that we have made it this far. I know there’s probably room to grow. And room to go to make it fully accessible for everybody,” advocate Dee Ann Hart, said.
Hart is one of many voices working to make improvements and says the rollout of a remote absentee ballot marking tool will make a big difference for those voters who want more independence.
Hart said, “I found it easy to navigate. I was using my low vision aids. My reading glasses and a large, print enhancement software on my device that I was using.”
The Democracy Live OmniBallot is the system being used. Voters can test out the sample ballot for free right now online, just type the words “sample voter” and input 1/1/1999 as your birth date.
Tom Crishon, an attorney for Indiana Disability Rights, said, “It’s something new so people may be a little reluctant to try it. But Indiana Disability Rights is encouraging all voters who are blind or have other print disabilities to try the tool out,”
Crishon is an attorney for Indiana Disability Rights, and says prior to this settlement, voters with visible or print impairments had to use specialized equipment at voting sites or rely on the traveling board to come to their homes, resulting in people skipping voting all together.
“There were a number of headaches associated with the traveling board. You had to schedule it, you had to trust these two individuals to come to your house and allow the strangers into your home,” said Crishon.
Hart says for many people, welcoming a stranger into your house or sharing your voting decisions creates issues. Hart says she hopes this system takes away those barriers.
“It allows you to know that you are actually helping make the decisions of who is working for you,” said Hart.
The deadline to apply for the absentee ballot is Thursday, April 20.