Last week the Maryland Board of Elections took a new and important step in ensuring that all blind Maryland voters can exercise our right to cast our ballots privately and independently. The board agreed, after forceful persuasion by the National Federation of the Blind and other advocates, that poll workers must inform all Maryland voters of the availability of an accessible method for reading and marking their ballots.

Maryland is one of several states that require a voter-verifiable paper trail when voters cast their ballots, instead of ballots being cast and recorded entirely by electronic means. Like some other states with similar laws, Maryland uses optically scanned paper ballots, which can be marked either by machine or by hand. Maryland has leased electronic ballot-marking devices (BMD's) with audio output and other accessibility features, and until last spring there was a system in place to ensure that a significant number of state voters, with and without disabilities, would use these machines. However, problems with the machines, unrelated to their accessibility, caused the board to decide that their use should be limited primarily to voters with disabilities, and that the option to use them should generally not be offered unless a poll worker decided that a voter had a qualifying disability. The National Federation of the Blind and our allies objected to this plan, both because it was unlikely that election workers could correctly identify all voters who could benefit from using the BMD's, and because the result would be a segregated, identifiable  pool of ballots consisting of those cast by voters with disabilities. Despite these concerns, the board did not require that poll workers tell all voters that an accessible voting option was available when Maryland's primary elections were conducted this past spring. The only requirement was that at least two voters without disabilities be requested to use the BMD's, to slightly mitigate the segregation issue. The effect of this policy was that, unless a voter happened to know about the accessible ballot-marking devices and asked to use one, voters with disabilities were kept from using the machines in many instances. Voters were not informed about the machines and, in some instances, the machines were not even set up or turned on. In addition, some voters were interrogated by poll workers about why they wanted to use the machines.

Armed with survey data about these fiascoes that we collected, I pointed out in a letter, and in testimony before a special Board of Elections meeting on September 8, that the Americans with Disabilities Act and its implementing regulations require actual notice of accessible services for people with disabilities. After nearly two hours of testimony and debate, the NFB and our partners persuaded the board that every voter should be told about the BMD's. Starting in November's general election, poll workers in Maryland will be required to read aloud a statement telling each voter that, if needed, there is an accessible alternative for those who have difficulty reading or marking a paper ballot. The board even went a step further, requiring that this statement be printed and taped to the check-in table at the polling place, so that poll workers theoretically won't forget to make the announcement to each voter.

Whenever a separate method or device is designated for the blind and other voters with disabilities to use in casting our ballots, problems typically arise. All too many blind voters throughout the country have arrived at their polling places to learn that the "special" machine for us isn't working or hasn't been set up, or that poll workers don't know how to operate the device or its accessibility features. The only real solution is for all voters to use the same equipment, with appropriate accessibility features for those who need or wish to use them. Barring that, election authorities must ensure that poll workers understand the importance of accessible voting equipment being available and operational for all voters who need or can benefit from it. All involved must be clear on one point: It is the right of blind voters, just as it is of all other voters, to vote privately and independently.

Maryland's Board of Elections, to its credit, realized that the decision of how to cast one's ballot must be firmly in the hands of the voter. The board's decision sends two important signals in Maryland, and hopefully beyond. First, the board recognized that election officials have the ultimate responsibility to ensure that all voters can exercise this cherished right.  It is all too often the expectation that advocacy organizations like the National Federation of the Blind should take primary responsibility for providing information to voters with disabilities, and initially there was some sympathy for this position among Maryland Board of Elections members. But while the National Federation of the Blind and others can and should remain engaged in informing voters with disabilities of our rights and how to exercise them, election officials cannot and must not abdicate their responsibility to make sure that all voters can vote privately and independently. Second, informing all voters of the availability of accessible voting methods raises expectations among these voters and the public, by making it clear that the blind and other voters with disabilities can, do, and should  participate fully and equally in the democratic process and, by extension, in American society. The Maryland Board of Elections' new policy will inform many voters who can benefit from the ballot-marking device of its availability, including voters who don't have obvious disabilities. Just as importantly, if not more, it will inform the public that Maryland is rightly committed to the full and equal participation of all voters, regardless of disability. Each voter gets a secret vote, with no exceptions, and each vote is of equal importance.

It took vigilant and vigorous advocacy by the National Federation of the Blind and our partners, but the Maryland Board of Elections is to be commended for implementing an affirmative, and hopefully effective, method of ensuring that all Maryland voters can exercise an equal right to vote. Perhaps a similar solution will benefit voters in other jurisdictions throughout the nation.