RESOLUTION 2001-4

Voting Rights for the Blind

WHEREAS the right to cast an independent and  private vote is a foundation
of full citizenship in this State and
Country; and

WHEREAS current voting machines and methods currently in use in the State of
Florida are not accessible to the blind;  leaving blind people dependent on
polling personnel to read, mark, and cast ballots for them; and

WHEREAS voting personnel are largely volunteers and not governed by the
codes that regulate professional behavior; and

WHEREAS the freedom to independently vote with dignity and privacy has been
denied to the blind citizens of the State of Florida; and

WHEREAS the technology that will allow blind people to
vote is readily available, and would give blind and visually
impaired citizens full access to read the complete ballot
and to vote with complete independence:  Now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of Florida, in
convention assembled, this second day of September, 2j001, in the city of
Tampa, Florida,  that this organization demand that the Florida Civil Rights
Commission and the Florida Secretary of State be charged with and urged to
form written policy statements on this issue, to promote full dignity,
privacy and independence for all Florida citizens.