Published: November 05, 2009 11:08 am      

Paper trail for disabled voters may have to wait

Next week Lafayette County Commissioners will vote on a resolution asking the legislature to delay a requirement that counties provide a paper trail for ballots cast by disabled voters. The new resolution asks legislature to postpone this requirement until 2016. A state law passed in 2007 requires implementation by 2012.

Computer glitches have been blamed for lost votes in the past and the legislature ordered Florida counties to require a paper trail beginning in 2008. However, disabled voters were still to be offered the use of electronic touchscreen devices until 2012.

Yet according to the Florida State Association of Supervisors of Elections, as well as some disabled-rights groups, technology that would allow some disabled voters to cast a ballot with a paper trail does not yet exist - not if their right to a secret ballot is to be preserved.

“The technology is not out there that we need,” said Lafayette County Supervisor of Elections Lana Morgan. AutoMark is the only certified system that meets the legislation’s requirements. The AutoMark is at private terminal that allows the user to make a selection using audio and Braille. The AutoMark then prints a paper that is optically scanned and counted along with other ballots. This could, however, compromise a disabled person’s right to a secret ballot if they are unable to place their ballots in the scanner.

In any case, Morgan noted that the touchscreen machines set aside for disabled voters were not used at all in the 2008 election.

The main issue, though, is cost, said Morgan. In Lafayette County alone the change in technology would cost $50,000.

“That is a heap of money for a small county,” said Morgan.

Morgan hopes commissioners will take a stand against the new technology until the local economy improves.