As a big election year approaches, blind voters in metro Atlanta seek easier access to the polls

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – An often-forgotten group of blind and visually impaired voters in DeKalb County is setting an example for advocacy in a big election year.

Brent Reynolds, who moved to DeKalb County in the early 1990s, said he has voted in every election cycle since. He also admits that it’s rarely an easy task.

When he went to the Dunwoody Public Library to vote in last month’s primary election, he was disappointed again.

“They couldn’t make it work,” he said. “There was no keyboard action. The buttons didn’t do anything. So they told us, well we can’t get it, so you can, so you’re going to have to go to Memorial Drive.

Reynolds — who doesn’t know how to drive himself — had to drive nearly 40 minutes to a precinct where the county’s assisted voting machines were operating, and even then he had trouble voting without assistance.

“We’re supposed to be able to vote independently and by secret ballot,” Reynolds said. “This is what we were told it was supposed to be, and it never is.”

Reynolds wasted no time airing his long-standing complaints and frustrations with the county. Days after the primary vote, he spoke before the DeKalb County Voter Registration and Elections Board, urging them to make better accommodations for blind and visually impaired voters, and warning them that they might be about to violate state and federal laws that require easy access to ballots. and machines in working order.

“They asked me if it was isolated. I said no, this happened everywhere I voted, and every blind person I know throughout the metro area will be frustrated,” Reynolds said.

The board listened, and Reynolds is now helping the county test its more than 160 assisted voting machines ahead of Tuesday’s runoffs and the big presidential race in November.

Reynolds said it’s an example of counties listening to their marginalized constituents and making changes to make the process easier.

“It’s about independence and that’s what we were promised when they launched the electronic machines,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds added that the concept applies to all voters with disabilities. People who are deaf or hard of hearing need the machines to work, as do people with dyslexia who need to read ballots through assisted voting devices.

“I want to see what they promised us,” Reynolds said. “That there should be at least one person in the polling station who knows what to do to operate that part of the machine, and who knows enough to be able to explain the buttons and show someone how to find their way if they want. I’ve never done it before.

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