Posted on 02/10/2003 4:18:51 PM PST by Shermy
A group of blind voters sued Palm Beach elections supervisor Theresa LePore on Monday, claiming she didn't provide equipment that would have let them vote by secret ballot. The lawsuit asks that LePore make available audio equipment that will let voters who are blind and visually impaired vote without assistance. It also calls for LePore to train poll workers on how to use the new technology.
The federal court lawsuit seeks to be declared a class action but doesn't seek monetary damages.
The plaintiffs said LePore had brought the machines to the Center for Independent Living Options for demonstrations before the 2002 primary and general elections. But during those elections, the plaintiffs said either the machines were not available or poll workers did not know how to use them.
LePore did not return phone calls seeking comment.
David Evans, one of five plaintiffs listed on the suit, said during the September election he had to show a poll worker how to hook up the new equipment, then neither of them could get it to work.
"I would like to have a sense of privacy and everything my wife enjoys with her ballot,'' said Evans, who served on the Secretary of State's task force on voting accessibility in 2001.
Harold Cousminer, a plaintiff who became legally blind three years ago because of macular degeneration, said his precinct didn't have the audio machines during the September or November elections.
Other voters asking about the new machines were told by poll workers to go to LePore's offices to cast their ballot, said Shelley Gottsagen, executive director of the Coalition for Independent Living Options.
"People who are visually impaired or blind were told to drive there," she said.
The audio-voting machines were part of the $14 million voting technology Palm Beach County purchased last year after the botched 2000 election.
Better than that, they have to go to LePore's office to vote. She'll offer them a "helping hand."
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