Miss-Delectable
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- Joined
- Apr 18, 2004
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http://local.lancasteronline.com/4/22405
LANCASTER COUNTY, PA - After participating in an instructional workshop on the county's new electronic voting machines, a group of people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing gave the system high marks for accessibility.
Lancaster County's new voting machines have been touted for their ease of use by people with handicaps.
To see how easy it would be, about 20 people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing attended an instructional workshop on the system Monday night at Manheim Township Ambulance Association.
Ann McCall and Susan Leinberger of League of Women Voters of Lancaster County and Charles P. Helm, a caseworker with Mental Health/Mental Retardation, volunteered through the county's Lancaster Votes! program to demonstrate, through a sign-language interpreter, how the machines work.
The electronic system has two components: eScan, which uses paper ballots, and eSlate, which is designed for accessible voting, McCall said. Both machines will be available at each of the county's polling places beginning with this month's primary election, replacing the lever machines that had been used for the past 30 years.
The county purchased the new system to comply with 2002's Help America Vote Act, McCall said.
The law requires voting systems to be accessible so all voters can cast a vote privately and independently, including those who are blind or who have mobility impairments. It also requires "second-chance voting," which means giving voters a chance to review and change a vote or correct a ballot if an incorrect mark has been made.
"This is good," Elizabeth Fechtmann-Crippen of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services said about the workshop. "It's going to make it so much easier for the deaf to have had hands-on experience. Everybody who has the opportunity to have hands-on experience will find it so much easier when they go to the polls."
Each time a waving-flag symbol appeared on a voting machine's view screen, indicating a successful vote had been cast, everyone cheered.
Raymond Rohrer, through sign-language interpreter Allison Carr, said he was used to the old-fashioned levers but he attended the workshop so he could get used to the new machines before voting in the election.
"It seems pretty easy to use," Rohrer said after testing the eSlate system. "I think I could use either the eSlate or the eScan. I'm so used to the old system, but I think I will enjoy the new system."
Debra Hoffer said she wasn't sure she would be crazy about the new system. She thought it would be like the self-checkout at food stores.
She felt differently after trying it. "It's cool," she said. "It was pretty easy. I think I do like it better than the old system. You had to be strong to pull the levers. You needed some muscle."
Joanne Reiley -- who celebrated her 47th birthday Monday -- said she tried to vote when she turned 18, but she couldn't understand her father's attempts to teach her what to do.
Nor did she know who to vote for because none of the televised campaign ads was closed-captioned.
"So I refused to go vote for many years," Reiley said.
She said she thinks the new eSlate machine will be "pretty easy for me. But I struggle a little with the information. I don't read too well since English is my second language."
Her first language is American Sign Language, which puts words in a different order than spoken English.
LANCASTER COUNTY, PA - After participating in an instructional workshop on the county's new electronic voting machines, a group of people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing gave the system high marks for accessibility.
Lancaster County's new voting machines have been touted for their ease of use by people with handicaps.
To see how easy it would be, about 20 people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing attended an instructional workshop on the system Monday night at Manheim Township Ambulance Association.
Ann McCall and Susan Leinberger of League of Women Voters of Lancaster County and Charles P. Helm, a caseworker with Mental Health/Mental Retardation, volunteered through the county's Lancaster Votes! program to demonstrate, through a sign-language interpreter, how the machines work.
The electronic system has two components: eScan, which uses paper ballots, and eSlate, which is designed for accessible voting, McCall said. Both machines will be available at each of the county's polling places beginning with this month's primary election, replacing the lever machines that had been used for the past 30 years.
The county purchased the new system to comply with 2002's Help America Vote Act, McCall said.
The law requires voting systems to be accessible so all voters can cast a vote privately and independently, including those who are blind or who have mobility impairments. It also requires "second-chance voting," which means giving voters a chance to review and change a vote or correct a ballot if an incorrect mark has been made.
"This is good," Elizabeth Fechtmann-Crippen of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services said about the workshop. "It's going to make it so much easier for the deaf to have had hands-on experience. Everybody who has the opportunity to have hands-on experience will find it so much easier when they go to the polls."
Each time a waving-flag symbol appeared on a voting machine's view screen, indicating a successful vote had been cast, everyone cheered.
Raymond Rohrer, through sign-language interpreter Allison Carr, said he was used to the old-fashioned levers but he attended the workshop so he could get used to the new machines before voting in the election.
"It seems pretty easy to use," Rohrer said after testing the eSlate system. "I think I could use either the eSlate or the eScan. I'm so used to the old system, but I think I will enjoy the new system."
Debra Hoffer said she wasn't sure she would be crazy about the new system. She thought it would be like the self-checkout at food stores.
She felt differently after trying it. "It's cool," she said. "It was pretty easy. I think I do like it better than the old system. You had to be strong to pull the levers. You needed some muscle."
Joanne Reiley -- who celebrated her 47th birthday Monday -- said she tried to vote when she turned 18, but she couldn't understand her father's attempts to teach her what to do.
Nor did she know who to vote for because none of the televised campaign ads was closed-captioned.
"So I refused to go vote for many years," Reiley said.
She said she thinks the new eSlate machine will be "pretty easy for me. But I struggle a little with the information. I don't read too well since English is my second language."
Her first language is American Sign Language, which puts words in a different order than spoken English.