From Ross A. Doerr Esquire
Disability Rights Center

Hello everyone:

As an ongoing part of it's Help America Vote Act work with the State of Maine regarding the Accessible voting system the DRC is involved with the Secretary of State's Accessible Voting System oversight committee. One of the goals of this committee is to address problems that were identified with the voting system during the general election last November.

One of the problem areas that was identified after the election was how many individuals with a disability complained about how slow and cumbersome the write-in function of the accessible voting system was to use.

The Secretary of State would like suggestions on how to improve the system.

If you have an idea that you would like brought to the attention of the committee, please email it to me so that I can print it out and take it to the meeting with me when it next meets. If you prefer to let me know your thoughts verbally, call me at one of the phone numbers found at the end of this email and I will be happy to reduce your suggestion to writing and submit it on your behalf. If you have any other form of contact that you would prefer, let me know your preference and I will get to work on it quickly.

Another idea to make the accessible voting system easier to use is to create an online and interactive resource that an individual with a disability can access. This would be a web site, probably accessed through the Secretary of State's links on the Maine.gov site.

Any suggestions that you may have about an idea such as this would also be most welcome. Beyond making certain that the site is accessible, what suggestions for content of this site would you most prefer to see displayed on it?

Some of the ideas I have heard thus far are to have a link from which one may ask questions directly to someone at the Secretary of State's office, a "frequently asked questions" link that can be browsed at a viewer's convenience and a link that contains a toll free number for practice voting as well as a simplified set of instructions for use of the accessible voting system (done in large print or other languages perhaps?).

Again, please let me know your suggestions or ideas to make this resource a reality before the next election comes around. If possible, ideas within the next couple of weeks would be a great help.

This is an opportunity to make the right to vote easier and more effective for everyone in Maine for future elections. Your ongoing participation is very much appreciated.

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