LANDMARK SETTLEMENT OF D.C. VOTING CASE

August 15, 2002.  The Disability Rights Council of Greater Washington (DRC) and the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) today announced settlement of a landmark lawsuit against the District of Columbia and its Board of Elections and Ethics. Under the settlement, the District becomes the first major metropolitan area in which voters who are blind or who cannot use their hands can vote in secret and independently. The agreement settles a lawsuit filed last year by the DRC and the AAPD, along with several blind voters who cannot see a printed ballot and a quadriplegic voter who cannot use his hands to mark a paper ballot.

In 2000, the District of Columbia purchased a new voting system called an optical scan system. This system requires a voter to mark a paper ballot with a pencil; the ballot is then scanned and the vote is tabulated electronically. However, voters who are blind or who cannot use a pencil must take another person into the voting booth to cast their votes.  Thus, under the District’s new system, as under the old, voters with disabilities would not be able to exercise a secret ballot.

In their lawsuit, the plaintiffs claimed, among other things, that the purchase of a new voting system that was not accessible to voters with disabilities violates the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Voting equipment is now readily available that makes it possible for plaintiffs and thousands of other District voters to vote in secret for the first time.  In settling the case, the city government and the Board of Elections and Ethics agreed to provide at least one accessible voting machine in every polling place in the city by the May 2004 election. In the 2002 elections, the new machines will be demonstrated by volunteers recruited by the DRC and the AAPD, but they will not be used to cast actual votes.

The accessible voting machines are similar to accessible ATM machines in having both audio and touch-screen capability. For a blind person, the machines produce an audio reading of the ballot to which a voter listens using headphones. The voter moves through the ballot using arrow keys and pushes the “select” button for his or her choice. Each button has a distinctive shape, such as an “up” arrow, and is identified in Braille. People who cannot use their hands to hold a pencil can use the touch screen feature of the machine. The voter sees the ballot on the screen and touches the screen with any part of the hand or a mouth stick, a wand held in the mouth and used to push buttons or keys on a keyboard. All voters can also use the machines to write in a candidate by spelling the candidate’s name either on a keyboard on the touch-screen or by selecting letters recited orally. At the end, voters can confirm their choices before casting their final vote.

Linda Royster, Executive Director of the DRC, said of the settlement, “Residents of the District of Columbia recognize more than most citizens of the United States how important it is to have the right to participate in our democracy by voting. We are proud that DC will become the first major metropolitan area in which all voters can vote independently and in secret. We hope that DC’s lead will be followed all over the country.” According to Jim Dickson, Vice President of the American Association of People with Disabilities, this case demonstrates the crucial importance of the election reform legislation pending in Congress, particularly those parts requiring all jurisdictions to have accessible voting machines and providing financial assistance for the purchase of accessible machines.  “In a difficult time in DC’s fiscal life, the city has stepped up to the plate and done the right thing. With less than three months to the next national election, it’s time for the Republican leadership in the house to do the right thing and pass meaningful election reform.”

The American Association of People with Disabilities and the Disability Rights Council of Greater Washington are membership organizations representing people with disabilities. Several individual District voters who are not able to cast secret ballots under the current voting system also were plaintiffs. They have been represented by the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and the Washington law firm, Hogan & Hartson.