Attention Blind and Low vision voters in WA: DO YOU NEED A RIDE to a voting center to use accessible voting options

With less than a week to go before election day, a couple important notes:

Newsflash: all mail ballots are awesome for many people. They are not awesome for blind / low vision people who want to vote privately and independently. They also are not awesome for military and overseas voters. Many states have provisions for people with disabilities to use secure online voting technologies with whatever accessibility measures they are used to, from the privacy of their own homes and submitted through secure electronic portals.

WA is not one of those states. People who cannot vote privately and independently with mail in votes have to travel to voting centers equipped with accessible voting machines which present information in large print or read ballot choices aloud and allow voters to mark their own choices.

For information about hours and locations for accessible voting services in your county, check out 

Detailed list of Vote Centers in King County

All counties in WA

WA Secretary of State Contact your local elections office

Because of the need for blind people to travel to voting centers in order to vote privately and independently, the WA Council of the Blind has secured a grant from Common Cause to help address transportation costs.

TRANSPORTATION TO A VOTING CENTER

 BREAKING NEWS!!! 

Thanks to Common Cause, a non-partisan, grassroots organization dedicated to pro-democracy reforms, the Washington Council of the Blind has been given a grant to help ALL blind and low-vision voters in Washington state who need to travel to a voting center.

 

You read that correctly. ALL blind and low-vision voters in Washington state will be eligible to apply for a travel voucher or travel reimbursement if they need to pay for transportation to a voting center.

 

If you need to take a taxi to a voting center-you can get reimbursed.

 

If you need to pay a friend gas money to get to a voting center – you can get reimbursed. If the friend who used to drive you around can no longer drive because of vision issues, both of you now qualify for help.

 

If you need to take a Lyft to a voting center – you can get a Lyft voucher or be reimbursed. Sorry, Uber is not participating in this program.

 

The Washington Council of the Blind (WCB) is proud to be the recipient of this grant to help voters in the Blind Community this election cycle. This is the first of this kind of program in Washington state. The Government Affairs committee along with the WCB treasurer are tasked to administer and track the distribution of these funds.

 

There are three options to access this program.

1.     You can email wcb.voting.issues@gmail.com

2.     You can call the Buzzline: 800-255-1147

3.     You can use the contact form on the WCB website.

 

Email wcb.voting.issues@gmail.com or Call 800-255-1147

We need your name, address, phone number. Please indicate whether you need to be reimbursed or need a Lyft voucher. Please leave a good date/time to be contacted. You will be contacted by a member of the Government Affairs committee. All reimbursements will require a receipt proving your trip.

 

RantWoman will post detailed information for accessing a form through https://wcbinfo.org at the bottom of this post. RantWoman apologizes for all the steps needed to use the web form but it does work.

 

WCB is honored to be able to offer this program to all blind and low-vision voters who need to go to a voting center to use an Accessible Voting Unit, to register to vote or to just get help with your ballot.

 

As part of the guidelines for this grant, we need to find ways to spread the word to the Blind Community. That’s where you come in. Share this info everywhere. Call your friends and let them know about this program. Print off this post to hand out to others.

 

Please everyone: #EveryVoteMatters 

 

Website Contact Form Option: https://wcbinfo.org/wcb-contact-form/ 

How to use the webform:

1.     Click the link above or enter it into a web browser. Note: if you having trouble using a mobile device when accessing the webform, ask your device to request the desktop site.

2.     You should land on the page labeled WCB Contact Form. On this page enter your first name, last name, phone number, email address (email needs to be entered twice), choose your preferred contact method and choose Yes or No when asked if you are a WCB member. YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE A MEMBER TO USE THIS PROGRAM. All of the above information is for tracking usage of the program only. We do not share or sell your data. All questions on this page must be answered prior to going to the next page. Click NEXT.

3.     The next page is entitled Define Contact Type and Area. There are three questions: Contact type: REQUEST. Who would you like to contact? COMMITTEE. Select a committee to contact: GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS. Click NEXT

4.     The Final page is entitled 2024 VOTING TRANSPORTATION OPPORTUNITY. The first and only radio button choice is YES. The next choice gives you the option to choose Lyft Voucher or Reimbursement. If you choose reimbursement, another box will open. That is your opportunity to upload a jpg, gif, png, pdf, doc or docx copy of your receipt. You must upload your receipt when prompted or you will not be able to submit your form. After uploading your file, click SUBMIT. The info will go to the Government Affairs Committee for further outreach.