I am writing in response to a recent commentary from John Odum warning against legislation designed to make absentee voting more accessible for voters with disabilities as well as military and overseas voters.
Mr. Odum’s arguments are disingenuous and misleading and ignore the fact that this legislation will make Vermont elections more accessible and ensure that voters who have significant obstacles to traditional voting can access and cast their ballots.
Vermont’s move to automatic vote by mail has left voters with disabilities without fully accessible voting options. Federal law, including the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Help America Vote Act of 2002, requires that all voting methods, whether in person or by mail, must be accessible to persons with disabilities so that they may mark and cast a ballot independently and privately.
Vermont provides voters with disabilities the option to receive mail ballots electronically. But by requiring voters to print and return a physical ballot, such systems are not fully accessible. Voters who are blind and print-disabled typically have no printers and cannot independently handle a paper ballot, leaving them still in need of assistance to complete the ballot-return process.
Federal and state courts have agreed that electronic ballot delivery with physical return, like the system Vermont now offers, is not fully accessible and have consequently ordered states to offer voters with visual and print disabilities the option to return a ballot electronically.
Legislation under consideration in the Legislature would fix this issue. And we know it can be implemented safely because it is an option available to voters in 32 states already. Systems used for electronic ballot delivery and return have been rigorously tested, and cybersecurity experts have affirmed that they are secure. Research from the Federal Voting Assistance Program has even found that, for some voters, electronic ballot-return options like these are more secure than postal return. More recent research from the Government Blockchain Association found that systems that digitally protect ballots with encryption are much more secure than traditional paper absentee ballots.
Election integrity depends on the ability of voters to cast ballots and know they were counted correctly. But as importantly, election integrity depends on the ability of every eligible voter to vote. Current vote-by-mail options in Vermont are leaving voters out and do not provide an accessible option that assures every eligible voter can cast an independent and private vote. Adding electronic ballot return options would make Vermont elections fully accessible for all voters.
Susan Bellimer
Swanton
President, National Federation of the Blind of VT
