But Geetha, were you provided dummy Braille ballot paper? Or names along with numbers on EVM? If not, even independence envisaged by accessible voting can not be achieved as you would have to depend on escort or poling officers to read out names along with serial numbers. And, our supreme court order or election commission letter in its wake, makes no mention of these things... Rajesh
-----Original Message----- From: accessindia-boun...@accessindia.org.in [mailto:accessindia-boun...@accessindia.org.in] On Behalf Of Geetha Shamanna Sent: Thursday, April 23, 2009 12:00 PM To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in Subject: Re: [AI] Curious case of poll accessibility 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 Notice: This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you are not the intended recipient, any dissemination, use, review, distribution, printing or copying of the information contained in this e-mail message and/or attachments to it are strictly prohibited. If you have received this email by error, please notify us by return e-mail or telephone and immediately and permanently delete the message and any attachments. The recipient should check this email and any attachments for the presence of viruses. The Bank accepts no liability for any damage caused by any virus transmitted by this email. 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
