Accessible Voting Machines in Place for Voters With Disabilities for State Election

Secretary of the Commonwealth William F. Galvin said today there will be voting machines accessible for voters with disabilities in 28 Massachusetts communities, including the Commonwealth’s three largest cities, on Election Day, November 7.

In several municipalities throughout the Commonwealth, additional accessible voting equipment will be available during the November 7, 2006 State Election for voters with disabilities as well as any other voter who chooses to use it. This equipment will not replace existing voting equipment used by the municipalities but will supplement it. Each voting system will provide a voter verifiable paper trail.

“This is a major step toward ensuring that voters with disabilities can, for the first time, cast their ballots without the assistance of another person, giving them the independence and privacy in voting that we often take for granted,” Secretary Galvin said. “We are continuing to field test three machines to make sure that what Massachusetts adopts to meet the Help America Vote Act requirement is the most accessible, secure and reliable machine available.” 

Given the importance of procuring the most appropriate voting system accessible for voters with disabilities and the considerable amount of state and federal funds to be expended, Secretary Galvin believes further field testing is necessary before a final selection is made. All the equipment being field tested is in compliance with both state and federal law.

Additionally, Secretary Galvin engaged the services of a voting systems expert, Dr. Michael Shamos of Carnegie Mellon University to examine the security aspects of the accessible equipment being used and Mr. Shamos concluded that all three systems are sufficiently secure for use.

Three types of voting machines that will be used are the AccuVote TSx with a voter verifiable paper audit trail, the AutoMARK voter assist terminal, and e-Slate with voter verifiable paper audit trail.

Boston will have accessible voting equipment in at least 75 polling places. The other communities will have an accessible voting machine in each of their polling places. Handicapped voters in more than 500 precincts will be able to take advantage of the new machines.

The AutoMARK machine will be at polling places in Boston, Brockton, Brookline, Cambridge, Chicopee, Fall River, Framingham, Lowell, Lynn, New Bedford, Newton, Quincy, Springfield, Waltham, and Worcester.

The AccuVote TSx machine will be at polling places in Amesbury, Ashburnham, Bedford, Georgetown, Hamilton, Ipswich, Manchester-By-The-Sea, North Andover, Reading, Salisbury, Watertown, and Wenham.

The e-Slate machine will be used in Winthrop.