INDIANAPOLIS — A record number of Americans are expected to vote by mail this year due to the pandemic.
But advocates say voting by mail is not a leveled playing field for the thousands eligible voters in Indiana who are blind. The National Federation of the Blind estimates that there are 159,800 blind Hoosiers.
“People who are blind are more reliant on touch to get to and from places so obviously there are health concerns about going to a polling station,” said Lise Pace, VP of External Affairs at Bosma Enterprises.
Bosma Enterprises is the largest employer of blind and visually impaired people in Indiana. And they say the pandemic has brought the issue of absentee voting equality to the forefront.
“I am visually impaired myself,” Pace said. “So for me to request an absentee ballot I can do that certainly, but when I get the ballot it’s a paper ballot. And for somebody who’s blind or visually impaired there’s not an accessibly way for you to complete the ballot."
That’s why privacy is an issue.
“I have to request my husband to assist me,” said Pace.
The state also allows residents to vote by traveling board.
“Its available to people who have a disability and their caregivers. It’s bipartisan, and they will come to your home and help you complete your ballot much like my husband helps me at home," Pace said. "And so again there are those concerns about being able to cast those ballots independently and privately because again someone is going to have to cast those votes for you."
The National Federation of the Blind of Indiana said they’ve sent a joint letter along with the American Council of the Blind Indiana to the secretary of state requesting a face to face meeting to discuss how to make mail in voting more equal for the blind.
“Now, we’re not saying they have to pick or choose whatever we think is best. We’re just saying there are some options out there and we want them to know what the options are and we feel that we should have equal opportunity to participate not only in voting but privacy,” said Ron Brown President of the National Federation of the Blind of Indiana.
Military and overseas voters can vote online using their own computers. Blind voters say sharing this technology would be a game changer because there’s already technology that can read text aloud.
“If you can do a confidential transaction with banking, I would believe that it could also be done with voting,” said Pace.
Legal action has been filed in Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania asking for this technology
“Well all options right now are on the table. The main thing is we would like to work with the Secretary of State’s office in order to facilitate and make this happen for the state of Indiana. So, I’m not ruling it (filing action) out,” Brown said.
There has been a push by some to make electronic ballot delivery national. But the But the defense and intelligence community has said such systems should be limited to voters who “have no others means to return their ballot and have it counted.”
Experts warn that an entirely online system in the US poses a “high risk” in integrity, confidentiality and availability. But experts also said the risk with electronic ballot or marking that is mailed is less of a risk.
13News reached out to the Secretary of State’s Office and asked what steps is the state of Indiana taking in order to ensure accessibility and privacy concerns of blind Hoosiers are addressed ahead of the November election.
The Secretary of State’s office responded with a statement:
"The Secretary spent time upgrading our website to accommodate blind and visually impaired Hoosier voters. It’s our goal to make sure that all Indiana voters have the opportunity to vote in every election, and that includes easy access to the resources on the IndianaVoters website.
Our voter portal, www.IndianaVoters.com, was relaunched last year with a user-friendly design, additional voter information features, and live election-night reporting. Following an accessibility evaluation, the website has been updated to meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 and has achieved AAA compliance, the highest possible rating. Receiving marks of AAA compliance is a sign that we are meeting our goal, and we will continue to safeguard the enfranchisement of all Hoosiers.
The AAA compliance of the website was confirmed using 12 assistive technologies to test across 5 disabilities: Blind, Visually Impaired, Visual Color, Hearing Loss, and Motor Skills. The test administrators worked closely with Indiana residents that have disabilities to complete a usability study of IndianaVoters.com to help validate testing results.
For screen reader testing, a blind analyst was paired with a sighted analyst to fully evaluate the website’s accessibility. IndianaVoters.com also had language added for the public, “If you experience problems with accessibility on IndianaVoters.com please contact the Indiana Election Division at elections@iec.in.gov.
Voting information, absentee ballot requests, polling locations, directions to the polls, sample ballots, and more can be accessed on the website, so it’s a comprehensive set of services available to blind and visually impaired voters.
Voters can vote by traveling board if the voter prefers to keep their ballot private from family and friends. Traveling boards are made up of one Republican and one Democrat sent by the election office."
The National Federation of the Blind says they’re hoping to resolve privacy concerns over mail-in ballots by November so that blind Hoosiers can also join their fellow state citizens in voting independently and with privacy.