The Union Secretary of state speaks with disabled County's voting system a concern By Brittany Retherford August 18, 2005 Kate Reichert wants to be able to cast her vote by herself and in private, just like everybody else.Reichert, a visually impaired resident who works at the FREED Center for Independent Living, lives in a rural part of Nevada County and dutifully votes in each election by absentee ballot. She was one of many members of the county's disabled community who spoke with California Secretary of State Bruce McPherson during his visit to the area Wednesday. Several who spoke to McPherson voiced concerns about the accessibility of the county's voting systems."Filling out the bubbles is hard for me," Reichert said. She said she relies on her parents to help her cast her vote, but wondered "what would happen if I moved out?"Reichert said she'd prefer to be able to vote in a polling booth and offered suggestions on how to make them more accessible to those with a similar disability. Screens with greater contrast, better lighting, larger print, and maybe even an audio option would all be helpful, she said. McPherson, a Santa Cruz native and a Republican, was appointed to the position just four months ago by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to replace Kevin Shelley, who resigned earlier this year. His visit to the FREED center is part his efforts to gather input from state residents about the best way to manage the $169 million that was recently received from the federal government as part of the Help America Vote Act of 2002. Along with the additional money, the federal government has raised the bar for what it requires counties to provide to residents to vote in a safe, secure and private environment."We have to see how to do that best; it's different from county to county," he said, adding that "we want to do it quickly, but more importantly, we want to do it correctly." The visit drew a small crowd to Grass Valley's FREED Center, including representatives from the California Foundation for Independent Living Centers and several counties' registrars of voters. Kathleen Smith, Nevada County's clerk-recorder, said changes are already under way here that include giving more residents the option to vote either by mail or at polling places and providing more training and incentives for poll workers to be respectful and knowledgeable about the various needs of the voters. Some of the efforts to create more accessible voting places are limited by the types of technology offered by the few vendors that make election equipment, McPherson said. To make vendors more responsive, the state is putting the burden on vendors to be in compliance with the federal requirements, rather than the counties, he said. California's disabled population typically has a low voter turnout, said Ann Guerra, FREED's executive director, citing a recent survey that showed that 17 percent of Californians have a disability and only 25 percent of them vote. Nevada County's statistics mimic these state numbers, which came as a bit of a surprise, Guerra said."FREED has really had our eyes opened and are now really looking to raise those numbers."