[EM] HR811 and Federal paper trail legislation

[Michael Poole]

James Gilmour writes:

>> Chris Backert > Sent: 24 May 2007 19:39
>
>> For one, saying "can't we just use paper ballots" 
>> ignores the millions of American's who are unable to use 
>> paper ballots.
>
> I am surprised you say "millions".  Does this reflect the illiteracy level?  Or some other factors
> affecting ability to complete ballots?   If so, what factors?  What type of voting method could be
> used effectively by those unable to use paper ballots?

I thought that "millions" seemed high.  Then I dug a bit:

The American Foundation for the Blind claims[1] that roughly 1.3
million Americans are legally blind, and 10 million are blind or
visually impaired.  (They define "legally blind" but do not quantify
"visually impaired".)

The (US Federal government's) 2003 National Assessment of Adult
Literacy found[2] that two percent of adults spoke neither English nor
Spanish, and an additional three percent spoke English and/or Spanish
but could not read enough English to use the standard assessment.

Thus, "millions" seems easily supportable, although the question
remains as to how to make ballots more accessible to these people.

Michael Poole

[1]- http://www.afb.org/Section.asp?SectionID=15
[2]- http://nces.ed.gov/NAAL/PDF/2006470.PDF, page 4