The EVM at the polling booth where I voted had braille labels. However, the polling officer was not aware of it. On asking him about the availability of braille labels, he called the PR officer, who was not aware of it either. He finally checked the machine and then told me that the machine did indeed have braille labels.
Funnily enough, when I came out after casting my vote, the polling officer wrote down all the details of my sister-in-law who was with me, then wrote my name, and handed over the sheet of paper to us. He said he was providing us written proof that she had voted on my behalf. I could not resist lecturing him on accessible voting and informed him that she had not voted on my behalf, and that the braille labels had enabled me to vote on my own. Lobbying with the election commission for accessible EVMs and braille ballot papers will help us win only one half of the battle. It is equally important for us to work on educating the polling officers about what purpose accessible voting machines serve in the first place. Geetha To unsubscribe send a message to accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
