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Problem 1: Inaccessible Voting Machines
I voted for the first time in 2008. At least, I’m pretty sure I did. I can’t be 100% certain, though. I know I went into the booth. It was one of those curtained lever machines from the ’60s (New York was the only state still using them). Blind people definitely couldn’t operate those things. So I know I told my mom, who was in the booth with me, which votes to cast. Then I heard all the little switches clicking and the big lever ca-chunked.
I could, fortunately, trust my mother not to covertly change my votes if our choices diverged. Still, I didn’t love not having a secret ballot. You know, that little fundamental democratic right.
The irony is New York was the one place holding on to the lever system because it had missed a federal deadline to implement accessible voting.
