Federal Court Hearing Disabled Voters' Suit
Does Optical-Scan Voting System Violate Their Rights?
But the lawsuit says this technology denies disabled people their constitutional right to cast a secret ballot.
Last November, disabled voters protested at the polls.
"We have the right to have accessible voting machines that we can vote independently," Robert Jones (pictured, right) said at the time.
The lawsuit says the county should have bought touchscreen voting machines like these now used in Nassau County, which allow blind voters to hear their votes.
"The City Council and the supervisor of elections were shortsighted in the machines that they chose to purchase," disabled voter Dan O'Connor said.
After the suit was filed, Supervisor of Elections John Stafford told Channel 4 it would cost more than $1 million to put one touchscreen voting machine in each precinct, but said he was looking for ways to improve accessibility at the polls.
"I don't mind spending the money, if that's the answer," Stafford said.
Channel 4's Karen Guglielmoni said the federal trial on the lawsuit should last about a week. There's no word on when a ruling will be made.Copyright 2003 by News4Jax.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.






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