Winning on the ballot

 

   No matter who wins on (or after) Tuesday, I have won a big victory in this election. 

   The other day, for the first time, I voted by myself, on my own.  For the first time, after voting for about 45 years, I marked my own ballot. 

   This may sound like nothing, no big deal, but it’s huge. 

   Like I said, I have be voting in dozens of elections over decades, ever since my mom took me to the poll for the first time after I turned 18, when the poll worker, an old man who was presumably a Republican, glowered at my mom, a Democrat, no doubt thinking she was voting twice.  A few years later, I became a permanent absentee voter, which meant I could vote at home, but I always needed to tell my attendant how to mark my ballot.  This wasn’t exactly private, anonymous, especially when the ballot switched from being a punch card to an actual list of candidates and propositions. 

   Then, a couple months ago, I went to a talk at Claremont McKenna College by Dean Logan, the Registrar of Voters in Los Angeles County.  He spoke about all the work his office does – it’s a lot! – and mentioned that he has made a special effort to make voting accessible to the disabled, especially after meeting with a group of severely disabled voters at United Cerebral Palsy in L.A.  I was impressed that he made such an effort to listen and that he wanted to make sure everyone can mark their own ballot no matter their physical limitations.  I was particularly interested when he said there was a way to vote on one’s computer at home using one’s own adaptive equipment, as I’m now unable to touch a keyboard or a screen, and my speech is impaired, making speech recognition practically impossible. 

   A while later, I e-mailed the registrar’s office explaining my situation and promptly got a response directing me to a web page.  Lo and behold, when I tried it out a few days ago, I found myself marking my ballot on my computer. 

   Note, that’s on my computer, not online. One thing I really liked about the process was that, after completing voting, I printed the ballot, and it was put into the absentee voter return envelope.  This way, there’s no question or fear mongering about votes being in the ether, hacking, etc.  I guess my attendant could look and see who and what I voted for but hopefully not if I keep my eye on them. 

   Wow!  Who knew?  It’s like that old line – where have you been all my life?