Today's election is certainly an historic one. And we certainly hope you had a chance to participate by casting your vote for your preferred candidate!
Today was also the first time I had ever interacted with an electronic voting machine. I was ready to pull levers, but was instead presented with a touch screen voting machine that was manufactured by ES&S. I was admittedly wary at first. I heard many horror story anecdotes of voters having their votes registered incorrectly, machines with calibration problems, or machines that were easily hacked. One local radio station interviewed Bev Harris, an electronic voting critic who claimed to have found Diebold's source for their voting software left publically exposed on their website. In other words, I didn't like having to use a touch screen, but I had no other choice (especially since I waited 45 minutes to vote).
The process was surprisingly easy. The user interface was overall well done, making the process relatively simple for the average user. I tallied my votes and left feeling good about voting.
Throughout the day I've been doing more thinking about the whole process, and realized that there was one important thing missing that I didn't see - access for disabled persons. The machines themselves are not suitable for disabled persons. The tripods they sit on are too tall for someone of average height in a wheelchair. The screens themselves are tilted up, and since they're LCD panels (and cheap ones at that), their viewing angle is pretty much straight on. The touch screen selection boxes are too close to each other, making it difficult to pick a candidate. Obviously with touch screens, you cannot have a Braille option.
Worst of all - polling places appear to be in blatant violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act. I went to the wrong polling station before I found the right one - a church - and I had to go down narrow stairs to get to the basement voting station. There may have been disabled persons access but I did not see any clear signs pointing to alternate entrances. At my correct polling location, I had to wind through a very narrow line in a room that was no more than 700 square feet, crammed with pews, chairs, and tables (not to mention the voting machines).
In spite of their problems (and there have been plenty), the machines are certain to become more prevalent in our voting stations. But how much progress can we claim when we inadvertently deny our disabled citizens their opportunity to vote?