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An issue that seldom gets coverage in the news is the large number of people who have found themselves disenfranchised in the elections process. I am specifically referring to persons with disabilities who are unable to vote without the assistance of someone else.

I have personal experience around this topic as I am unsighted and have needed to have another person mark my ballot for me since the age of 18. There was a season of my life when I was with a partner who I am fairly certain was not marking my ballot in the way I was requesting, as we had widely differing views and he argued with me while assisting me to mark my ballot. I hope this was not the case, but intuitively, I sense it was. Either way, the voting process was extremely uncomfortable.


The incredibly wonderful news, here in Oregon, is that now, many of us who had never voted privately and independently, are now able to!

There is a new, innovative and unique tool now available to Oregonians called the Alternate Format Ballot. It is simply an HTML version of the ballot that does not require connection to the internet, but does open in a web browser. This means that the ballot displays like a web page and allows for easy navigation and marking. It?s an elegant and simple solution that allows many people, who cannot mark a printed ballot (such as myself) the option to use a tool they use every day (a computer) to mark their ballot in the privacy of their own home (like the majority of other Oregonians). It only requires that someone have access to a computer, a web browser and a printer.

There is also an option to mark your Alternate Format Ballot using a computer system through your local elections office via an Accessible Computer Station (they have both stationary and portable systems).

This is a new tool and it is unique to Oregon, so if there would be interest in exploring this topic for an up-coming show, prior to the election, please feel free to contact me and I can get you connected with the best people to utilize in the discussion.

Here?s to more and more people getting to vote privately and independently!
(I?m 35 and will be voting privately and independently for only the third time in my life, in Nov., thanks to the innovative work done prior to, and now the creation of, the Alternate Format Ballot!)

posted 4 years, 7 months ago
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