Voters with Disabilities

The America Disabilities Act requires that all counties have at least one voting machine at each of its polling places where any voter can vote independently and secretly. In addition, voters choosing to vote by absentee who wish to mark their ballot independently using the Ballot Marking Device (BMD) may do so at the Board of Elections office in Fonda NY during normal business hours. Before voting by absentee the Board of Elections must be in receipt of an absentee application. If you are a voter with special needs, and you wish to vote by absentee ballot independently and without assistance at home, you must apply for a special accessible absentee ballot using the Accessible Electronic Ballot Application*. Voters using the accessible absentee ballot system in need of printing services in order to print their ballot can access such services at certain public printing resources, including but not limited to, libraries, print stores, shipping stores, and office supply stores. Voters should contact their local printing resources for details on the printing services offered. Voters using the accessible absentee ballot system can also print their absentee ballots at the County Board offices.

In-person voting using an accessible Ballot Marking Device (“BMD”) during early voting or on Election Day is still available to voters with a disability. The Imagecast Voting Machine is a scanner and a computer that contains a ballot marking device. The BMD assists voters in filling out the paper ballot without the assistance of another person, preserving their right to privacy. By using specially designed devices the BMD can assist any voter with a physical disability to mark their ballot. Or with the use of headsets and a handheld device the BMD allows a visually impaired voter to hear the ballot read to them so they can mark their ballot. When the voter has completed marking their choices, the marked ballot is produced by the ImageCast ballot printer. The ballot that is produced looks like all other ballots marked by hand. This again assures that a voter's choice remains secret. The voter's marked paper ballot is then inserted into the ImageCast Ballot Scanner which automatically tabulates the votes of all ballots inserted the ballot box.

Any voter wishing to see a demonstration of a BMD can call or e-mail the Board of Elections to make an appointment.

In conjunction with the Montgomery County Board of Elections, RCIL of Amsterdam has devoted an entire room of their office space to assist voters with disabilities. This includes helping people register to vote, providing information on casting a ballot and answering any other questions a person may have on how to exercise their right to vote on Election Day.