BBV: Disability rights group *opposes* verifiable paper trail

[KamaAina]

The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) is normally a pretty progressive group, too. Here, though, they appear to have bought the (GOP) party line hook, line and sinker:

http://www.aapd.com/dvpmain/votemachines/aapdballots.html

The clique of VVPB supporters disputes the fact that touch screen voting machines are safe, secure, and reliable. They theorize that it is likely that computerized voting systems will accidentally miscount the ballots or that a rogue programmer will steal an election. Therefore, every touch screen must be attached to a printer and give the voter a paper ballot. If implemented in state initiatives, VVPB will violate the letter and spirit of HAVA by once again denying people with disabilities their right to a secret and independent vote. Not only will the rights of people with disabilities be stripped, but the costs of local elections will rise significantly with no promise or guarantee of future federal funding to absorb these new costs.

The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) opposes VVPB for four primary reasons:

It does not substantially address the issue of election fraud.
It violates the accessibility requirements under HAVA.
It will raise the costs of local elections and threaten Title III funding.
Touch screen voting systems that provide a VVPB do not exist, have not been tested in the real world, and are not certified.

As to accessibility, why not have each polling place (not necessarily each machine) equipped with a Braille embosser (printer)? And of course we all know that there are NO rogue programmers in the world, except for the ones who wrote MSBlaster and sobig </sarcasm>

And finally,

In addition to these factors, there is also the concern that none of the DRE systems certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) specifically for HAVA funds have the capacity to produce a paper ballot.

Gee, what rotten luck! What were the chances of that happening?</sarcasm>

Once again I fear that the disability community is being used by the far right to further its own agenda, much as the religious right has done on assisted suicide issues and, to some extent, on abortion.