WHEREAS, the National Federation of the Blind has fought for the right of blind people to vote independently and privately for years; and
WHEREAS, the state of Connecticut has provided for its blind residents to do this by means of a telephone/fax system that completes the voter's paper ballot entirely using the voter's input on the touch-tone telephone (vote-by-phone); and
WHEREAS, blind voters have consistently experienced second-class treatment in the use of this system such as not having the "vote-by phone" equipment operational when they arrive at their polling place thereby forcing them to wait up to 4 hours to vote; and
WHEREAS, in the 2010 general election at least two municipalities ran out of the standard paper ballots which registrars, the secretary of state, other political leaders and at least one judge characterized as "running out of ballots" even though the vote-by-phone system was an alternative, thus further treating the vote-by-phone process at best as second-class and at worst as invalid; and
WHEREAS, the current use of standard paper ballots costs hundreds of thousands of dollars per election simply in printing expenses which can never be recovered if any of these standard ballots are not used; and
WHEREAS, the National Federation of the Blind advocates for the blind with special attention to providing solutions that will also benefit a large majority of the public: Now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of Connecticut in Convention assembled this seventh day of November, 2010 in the town of North Haven, Connecticut to call upon the Secretary of State, municipal registrars, and other political leaders to end the second-class treatment of voters who are blind; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we call upon these officials to make one primary and preferred voting system accessible both to the majority of the public and to the blind; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that any additional system that the blind cannot use be considered secondary or an accommodation.