Vote-PAD, Inc. is proud to announce that it has reached an agreement to provide the Vote-PAD (Voting-on-Paper Assistive Device) to Yolo County, California to assist persons with disabilities in marking a paper ballot.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Ellen Theisen
President, Vote-PAD, Inc.
[email protected]
360-437-9922

Yolo County, California Chooses the Vote-PAD

Port Ludlow, WA. Thursday, January 19, 2006. Vote-PAD, Inc. is proud to announce that it has reached an agreement to provide the Vote-PAD (Voting-on-Paper Assistive Device) to Yolo County, California to assist persons with disabilities in marking a paper ballot.

Ms. Freddie Oakley, Clerk-Recorder of Yolo County, said, ìAfter an enormous amount of research, we in Yolo County feel lucky to have found this assistive device. My skepticism about computer-controlled voting is well-known, and so is my concern for poll workers. The Vote-PAD is so well thought out, it keeps control of the elections with the peopleís servants rather than surrendering it to big corporations. And at the same time it provides the most useful features for persons with a wide variety of disabilities of any assistive device we've seen.

The Vote-PAD is an inexpensive, non-computerized, voter-assist device that helps people with visual or dexterity impairments to vote independently and privately. The Vote-PAD was developed to help small jurisdictions, especially those using hand-counted paper ballots, comply with the accessibility requirement of the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002. It allows them to comply without changing their entire election process to accommodate computerized voting. Since its release, it has also gained interest from larger jurisdictions that use optical scanners to count ballots.

Ellen Theisen, President of Vote-PAD, Inc. and developer of the device, said, "We're delighted to be able to offer jurisdictions like Ms. Oakleyís a product that makes sense. Towns and counties all across the country are struggling with how to meet federal requirements. The law requires each polling place to have a method by which individuals with disabilities can vote unassisted. The Vote-PAD offers a simple, affordable, reasonable solution."

As evidence surfaces about the failures of computerized voting systems and the lack of accessibility on many of them, it is difficult for jurisdictions to know where to turn.

"The Vote-PAD provides the alternative they need," Ms. Theisen says."It is neither a computerized device, nor a voting system. With the Vote-PAD, assistance is simple and direct. It allow individuals to retain the dignity of marking a paper ballot the way other voters do."

The Vote-PAD, developed in consultation with members of the disabilities community, has performed successfully for people with a wide range of disabilities including those with visual and dexterity impairments.

See http://www.vote-pad.us for more information about the device and how it used by people with disabilities.

This press release is posted at http://www.vote-pad.us/media/yolocountypurchase.htm

See "Vote-PAD Rocks the Disabled Vote" http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70036-0.html?tw=wn_tophead_4

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Submitter: Joan Brunwasser

Submitters Website: http://www.opednews.com/author/author79.html

Submitters Bio:

Joan Brunwasser is a co-founder of Citizens for Election Reform (CER) which since 2005 existed for the sole purpose of raising the public awareness of the critical need for election reform. Our goal: to restore fair, accurate, transparent, secure elections where votes are cast in private and counted in public. Because the problems with electronic (computerized) voting systems include a lack of transparency and the ability to accurately check and authenticate the vote cast, these systems can alter election results and therefore are simply antithetical to democratic principles and functioning.



Since the pivotal 2004 Presidential election, Joan has come to see the connection between a broken election system, a dysfunctional, corporate media and a total lack of campaign finance reform. This has led her to enlarge the parameters of her writing to include interviews with whistle-blowers and articulate others who give a view quite different from that presented by the mainstream media. She also turns the spotlight on activists and ordinary folks who are striving to make a difference, to clean up and improve their corner of the world. By focusing on these intrepid individuals, she gives hope and inspiration to those who might otherwise be turned off and alienated. She also interviews people in the arts in all their variations - authors, journalists, filmmakers, actors, playwrights, and artists. Why? The bottom line: without art and inspiration, we lose one of the best parts of ourselves. And we're all in this together. If Joan can keep even one of her fellow citizens going another day, she considers her job well done.


When Joan hit one million page views, OEN Managing Editor, Meryl Ann Butler interviewed her, turning interviewer briefly into interviewee. Read the interview here.

While the news is often quite depressing, Joan nevertheless strives to maintain her mantra: "Grab life now in an exuberant embrace!"


Joan has been Election Integrity Editor for OpEdNews since December, 2005. Her articles also appear at Huffington Post, RepublicMedia.TV and Scoop.co.nz.