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American Morning

Florida Coalition Seeks to Improve Voting Access for Disabled

Aired June 22, 2001 - 11:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Keeping it on the Florida election, access to the voting booth is also a growing concern in that state. Now a new task force is being formed to look into ways to make sure that people with disabilities can cast their ballots without a problem.

Doug Towne is with the Florida Coalition for Disability Rights. He's joining us from Tampa with more details about the task force.

Doug, good to have you with us.

DOUG TOWNE, COALITION FOR DISABILITY RIGHTS: Thank you, Daryn, it's a pleasure to speak with you again.

KAGAN: It is good to have you.

Tell us some of the challenges that some of the able-bodied people might not appreciate that the disabled face when they just try to go and cast their ballots.

TOWNE: Well, as a blind person, of course, using the old system, the punch-card system, I could not vote without having somebody physically read the ballot, and then...

KAGAN: And actually punch it for you, I would imagine.

TOWNE: ... and then actually punch it as well, yes.

KAGAN: So, would that -- is that still how it is today in Florida, or is there going to be a new system?

TOWNE: Well, the system that they've been considering, which is the optical scanning system, is basically the same situation for anybody who's visually impaired or has other types of disabilities that don't allow them to read and/or mark, physically, a ballot. So we're very, very concerned about that.

KAGAN: Also, for people who might have trouble getting around or having access, a lot of polling places are in churches. And as I understand it, churches are not covered by the Americans With Disabilities Act, so they don't necessarily have to be accessible.

TOWNE: Yes, that's right. And, of course, we're going to be looking at that. The task force -- you know, the Florida Coalition for Disability Rights, as well as its members -- Caring and Sharing Center for Independent Living, the Family Network on Disabilities of Florida and others -- we have, really, an unparalleled access to state government, from the governor to Secretary Harris and others.

KAGAN: Why is that?

TOWNE: Well, they are genuinely concerned about these issues. And starting back in February, when the conversations were going on, actually Secretary Harris and -- expressed to us that she was very concerned about what was going to happen.

Of course, we waited to see what the legislature was going to do. And then, thinking that they had not had time to take into account all the variables, she and the coalition leadership had some conversations along with other groups, and that's where the task force has come from.

I can tell you this morning that Secretary Harris has appointed the co-chair and chair of the task force, and they would be Representative Larry Crow of the House here in Florida will be chairing the task force, and State Senator Richard Mitchell.

KAGAN: Doug, let me just ask you this: Is it possible that this is actually kind of a silver lining on the chaos that followed the Florida election? That, because things were such a mess and people decided they had to look at the system, that actually the disabled will benefit by that, because otherwise you might not have gotten the attention if all that hadn't happened?

TOWNE: Well, I suppose that you could look at it from that point of view. Yes, I think that, given that the system that we did have was 40 years old, it was certainly time for a change. And we're very pleased that the state government and the secretary of state has responded as quickly as she has.

And yes, there is some silver lining to it. And I think you'll see, over the next three to six months, a lot of good things come out of the task force. We'll be looking at not only the legal basis, but also systemic and social barriers to voting, and then, of course, the technology is the chief issue. And there's a lot of promising technologies out there Viacommunications (sic) and others who have got some solutions for us. So you'll be seeing some ongoing recommendations, I suspect, as the task force goes forward.

KAGAN: Well, we will look to that, and I imagine disabled people across the country might look at your solutions as well. Good luck with finding some of those solutions.

TOWNE: Thanks you, and we'll be in touch.

KAGAN: Doug Towne, thanks for being with us, appreciate it.

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