While Mass. are testing aging devices for voters with disabilities, advocates emphasize their crucial role

Before each election, Massachusetts tests accessible voting machines that all polling places must provide to voters with disabilities, such as those who are blind or visually impaired, so they can vote independently. Many of these machines, called AutoMARKs, are almost 20 years old.

Despite the aging technology, a spokeswoman for the secretary of state said the test runs will help voters avoid problems at the polls.

“You really shouldn’t encounter any problems on Election Day,” said Deborah O’Malley, the agency’s director of communications. She added that the state has backup machines on hand and an employee ready to deliver them if a problem arises.

Disability advocates say they are hopeful the AutoMARKs will function without complications this election. While this is rare, they say machine or printer malfunctions have forced voters to wait to cast their ballots. Short on time, some voters opted to have poll workers mark the ballots for them.

“I think my worst experience was in the 2016 presidential election,” said Nona Haroyan, leader of the Bay State Council of the Blind.

Haroyan, who is visually impaired, arrived at her polling place early that day and put on the machine’s headphones so she could hear the audio signals. She then clicked on the arrow-shaped buttons marked with braille so that those reading it could select her candidate. She thought she was done voting, but then her ballot didn’t print.

“How many people would trust a stranger to fill out a ballot for them?”

Nona Haroyan

She had to wait about two hours for the cartridge to be replaced. Poll workers offered to vote for her, but she wanted to vote herself.

“How many people would trust a stranger to fill out a ballot for them?” Haroyan said. “Are you sure they’re going to vote the way you want to vote?”

Haroyan’s experience is rare. In the 2020 presidential election, most Massachusetts voters who were visually impaired or blind experienced no problems with the AutoMARK machines, according to a survey conducted by Bay State Council of the Blind.

Election officials say when problems arise, it usually has to do with the setup of the machines. Survey workers receive training on how to assemble and use the equipment.

In 2022, Nancy Mathys, who is blind, said she went to vote in Plymouth and discovered the machine was still in the box.

As municipalities try to educate poll workers, a deluge of information sometimes means “accessibility is really overlooked,” said Brianna Zimmerman, a voter rights advocate at the Disability Law Center.

The Help America Vote Act of 2002 requires accessible voting devices at polling places across the country. In 2006, Massachusetts purchased AutoMARK machines for every polling place that didn’t already have them.

Anyone can use an AutoMARK, and the technology benefits a wide range of people who face barriers to voting independently. People who have difficulty operating a touchscreen or holding a pen can vote via the device’s suction and draw tube. Voters can also adjust the size and contrast of the text on the screen and select a language other than English.

The machines were a game changer for Myra Ross, who had always voted with the help of her parents or husband. Now Ross is casting her vote privately.

“The first time I voted with the AutoMARK was an unexpectedly emotional experience for me,” says Ross, who has never had a problem with the machine.

The technology has served blind voters well, said David Kingsbury, president of the Bay State Council of the Blind.

“The AutoMARK machines, when they work, are accessible,” Kingsbury said, noting that he believes the state has been a leader in voter accessibility. “They are easy to use, and we don’t take that for granted.”

Still, Kingsbury expects the machines to become ‘buggier’ as they age. He hopes that when the state takes steps to replace them, those responsible will seek input from people who are blind and visually impaired.

AutoMARK machines are no longer produced by Election Systems & Software, said company spokesperson Katina Granger. The company still supports the equipment, but they are finding that election offices are now opting for newer technology as funds allow.

In Massachusetts, voters with disabilities can also cast their ballots via a accessible vote-by-mail option.

Sharon Strzalkowski prefers the mail-in option, but says the AutoMARK machines remain an important part of the state’s voting infrastructure.

“I realize that a lot of people who can see take it for granted that they go to the booth, the paper is in front of them and they do their thing,” she said. “But for us it has never been easier.

“Voting is a civil right, and if we get that right, it means that we as people with disabilities are counted in our democracy.”