A voting device for Arizonas with disabilities is required at every polling place in the state. On Oct. 31, his Ability360 in Phoenix conducted a practice session for his ImageCast X accessible voting device. (Photo by Justin Spangenthal / Cronkite News)
Available at all polling places in Maricopa County, the ImageCast X accessible voting device allows people with disabilities to vote in person and in person. (Photo by Justin Spangenthal / Cronkite News)
Angelina Montgomery practices to vote for the ImageCast X machine on Ability360 on October 31st. This machine can scan ID badges and import voter information to simplify the process. (Photo by Justin Spangenthal / Cronkite News)
PHOENIX – Angelina Montgomery experimentally tapped controls for accessible voting devices on Tuesday in an attempt to master the mechanics of voting.
The ImageCast X machine is designed for people with disabilities to vote in person or privately. Using standard voting machines is difficult for Montgomery, who has neuromyelitis optica, a condition in which the immune system attacks the spinal cord and optic nerves.
All polling places in the state are required to have machines that voters with disabilities can use. Maricopa County uses the ImageCast X system from Dominion Voting Systems.
Montgomery and her service dog Remy attended last week’s event to practice with it. Hosted by Ability360, Center for Independent Living in East Phoenix. The center provided residents with disabilities with a device and some advice on what to expect and what they were entitled to get on Election Day.
This machine has a touch screen, large print options, and voice voting in multiple languages. It can also be adapted for use with mouth-inflate mechanisms, assistive technologies that use the air exhaled from the user’s mouth to control the device. Also, polling places need magnifiers and polling place employees need to be trained to assist people with disabilities.
ImageCast X machines have touch screens, large print options, and voice polls in multiple languages. It can also be used for a sip puffing mechanism. (Photo by Justin Spangenthal / Cronkite News)
It was Montgomery’s first time voting, but she said she now feels comfortable enough to vote in person. Before the demo, she “didn’t know there was an accessible poll,” she said.
Montgomery is one of the presumed 38 million voters People with disabilities in the United States, according to the Government Accountability Office.that makes it one of Largest voting block However, voters with disabilities turn out less than non-disabled voters.
Ability360’s vice president of advocacy, April Reed, said Maricopa County generally does well with people with disabilities in polls. But having access to accommodations and knowing how to use them are two different things, she said.
“Often the problem is not the lack of access, but the ability to use it,” says Reed. For example, “(Accessibility Vote) The machine was there, but it was not turned on and was waiting, or someone tried to use it and got an error his message.”
Megan Gilbertson, director of communications for Maricopa County Elections, said the state’s most populous county has other options to make it easier for residents with disabilities to vote. These include street voting at polling places, permanent early voting, and special election commissions that send someone to voters’ homes to help them vote if they can’t get to the polling place.
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“We are really proud to be able to offer all of these different options in both English and Spanish to serve voters and meet them where they are,” said Gilbertson. said.
Michael Sullivan Jr. was another voter who tried out voting machines accessible on Ability360 last week. He said he had already submitted his mail-in ballot, but as a paraplegic with limited use of his arms, he is motivated to let others with disabilities know that different considerations exist.
“My plan is that I’ll try some of these in the future as I’ve seen these other options,” he said. But these barriers are disappearing.”
For more information on voiding ballots in Maricopa County, please visit: county website Or contact the Special Elections Commission by phone (602-506-1511) or email. [email protected].
