Taking Advantage of The American Right
How new technology is being used to make the voting experience fair for all
CONCORD, NH — Never was a private vote so public. On the morning of the New Hampshire primary, inside Concord’s Green Street Community Center, Jameyanne Fuller grew ready to cast her first ever private ballot in front of her mom, members of disability rights organizations, and numerous reporters. Of course, Fuller would be the only one to see her vote cast, but as excitement stirred over New Hampshire’s new disabled voting technology, everyone wanted to see it for themselves.
Fuller showed up on this grey morning, alongside her seeing-eye dog, eager to use the new technology — a keyboard, tablet, and headphones — that would allow her to vote without assistance. Like all other voters that walked inside the Green Street Community Center, Fuller walked straight to the check-in desk and told the women behind the “A-H” table (organized alphabetically by last name) she was ready to vote. Fuller was escorted to the oversized white booth, next to the long line of smaller, red, white, and blue striped booths.
It would be easy to say that Fuller walked into the booth, cast her vote, and then celebrated with all who came to cheer her on. Too easy. For soon, it was discovered that the headphones — an essential part of Fuller’s ability to vote- were not working. The new technology functions so that the headphones will say aloud the possible candidates, and the voter is given time to click the tablet for the candidate they wish to vote for. Without the headphones, without the names being read out loud, someone who cannot see is restricted from voting. Fuller walked away from the large white booth while supervisors were notified, and the Secretary of State’s voter hotline was contacted. Fuller expressed some concern for she was “really looking forward to voting independently for the first time and now the talking voting machine isn’t talking.” However, Fuller, who yesterday got to test the new technology at the New Hampshire Association for the Blind, did not give up hope. She explained that “there’s great potential in this machine…and once we get all the glitches worked out it will be really great.”
Time passed, technicians walked in and out of the white booth, and eventually the “really great” moment came. A staff member walked into the booth and plugged in a code that let the tablet know if it should read aloud Democratic or Republican nominees. Soon after, Fuller walked into the booth and closed the white curtain.
While Fuller was inside the voting booth, all on-lookers were behind a white metal rope a few yards away. Fuller was voting alone. There was no one looking over her shoulder. There was no one bubbling in a candidate for her. Fuller was finally able to take advantage of her American right to vote in secrecy.
The United States has had a secret ballot since before the turn of the 20th century. Political privacy is an established freedom of this nation. However, many disabled voters, including Fuller in the past, have been robbed of this American right. For years, when a parent or friend assisted Fuller through her voting process, she was being neglected of an American entitlement. While Fuller emphasized how she trusts her mother and her friends, there are plenty of disabled Americans that may not have such support, and it should not matter if they do, for no American should ever vote with even the slightest worry that their vote was not for the candidate they intended. And still, even if a parent or friend can guarantee that they voted for the candidate the disabled voter wished, no voter should be robbed of their privacy. If a voter wants to tell a loved one they voted for A, when they really voted for B, they should have this ability.
And on Feb. 9 2016, Jameyanne Fuller did. She opened the white curtain and cameras started flashing. Fuller’s face lit up; she grinned and cheered “victory is mine!”
Fuller may have been robbed of her privacy to vote in the past, but on this very day, there was nothing that could rob Fuller of her pride. Fuller spoke fondly of the machine that allowed her to cast her primary vote in secrecy. Still with a smile on her face, Fuller shared, “what I really like about this machine is that it is designed for everyone.” Fuller continued by describing her hopes of making this machine accessible to all people in the future. Today, her vote had to be hand counted. And in a high turnout voting facility where the machine will be used multiple times, it will be impossible to distinguish which vote was in fact Fullers. But needless to say, this is not universal. Fuller aspires for uniformity to come from this machine. with passion Fuller stated, “let’s not have two systems, one for the people who are disabled and one for the people who aren’t, let’s have one system that everyone can use.”
And isn’t equality what this nation was founded on in the first place?
