BANGOR, Maine — Representatives from the Maine secretary of state’s office and Disability Rights Maine were at the Bangor Public Library on Tuesday to spread the word about Maine’s new accessible voting machines.
First introduced during the June primary elections, the Express Vote machines essentially are stand-alone units, each with a video display screen, a built-in ballot printer and attached controllers with colored buttons in various shapes with braille labels.
The machines also are equipped with headsets for those who are not able to see or read ballots.
“It allows people to vote independently and privately,” Jon Monroe, elections management analyst for the secretary of state’s office, said Tuesday while demonstrating how the machines work.
“The towns are pretty excited about this, too. They love the simplicity,” he said, adding that the units can be set up and ready for use in about five minutes.
Monroe said that the June trial of the accessible voting devices went smoothly. The handful of glitches that did occur involved power cords and were rectified without any downtime in the voting process.
Monroe said the state has a three-year lease on the more than 530 machines it has placed throughout Maine at a cost of about $700 apiece.
The state has been legally required to provide accessible voting options since 2002, Monroe said. The previous equipment used, however, was more cumbersome, for voters and clerks alike. From 2003 through June of this year, voters with disabilities cast their votes via a phone-fax system, he said.
“This machine is much simpler,” Monroe said.
Once completed, the ballots are either fed into voting machines or ballot boxes, depending on the municipality.
According to Rick Langley, deputy director of Disability Rights Maine, the open house at the Bangor Public Library on Tuesday was one of two such events in Maine that coincided with National Voter Registration Day. The other event took place at Portland City Hall, he said.
RoseAnna Hardie, who moved to Bangor about a year ago, stopped by the open house to update her voter registration card. She said she saw a post about the voter registration event online and figured it was a good opportunity to complete that task.
Hardie said she plans to vote in the Nov. 8 election.
“I still need a lot of time before I figure out [how I want to vote] this year,” she said.
One of the reasons she votes is because “not so long ago women weren’t allowed to vote. I have an 11-year-old daughter, and I like to bring her with me on voting day so she can get the feel of that and feel comfortable standing up for what she believes in.”