Sandra Casts her Vote

What a pleasure it is to introduce guest blogger Sandra Murillo today, the day she voted in her first presidential election. I met Sandra when she was still in high school – I interviewed her for a Chicago Tribune story about how kids who are blind are educated in the public schools. Sandra is now a sophomore at South Suburban College, planning to transfer to the journalism school at the University of Illinois next year – that’s my alma mater!

Sandra Casts Her Vote

State ID and voter registration card in hand, I left with my mom for our polling place this morning at 7:30 AM. It was not as crowded as I imagined. While my mom and I were waiting to sign in, we were having a chat with some of our neighbors. I really enjoyed that part of my first voting experience. When my turn to sign in finally came, I felt a sense of anticipation.

“I would like to have audio access on a touch-screen machine,” I told the poll worker. I had given thought about how I would word this statement. Voters who are blind or visually impaired need to know about their rights before going out to vote. I could either ask them if they had this equipment, or kindly request this accommodation. Since I knew that recent legislation demands the availability of this equipment in every polling place, I decided to choose the latter option.

“Sure!” the worker told me. “When you get to the touch-screen machine, a poll worker will set up the audio equipment.”

Her confidence surprised me. I’ve heard it is fairly uncommon for workers at a polling place to have knowledge of the availability of this equipment, but she seemed to know what she was doing.

After a few minutes, another kind poll worker greeted me and gave me the special keypad and earphones I would be using. The keypad is in the shape of a TV remote control; it is connected to the touch-screen machine. All of the keys had tactual markings as well as Braille labels — arrow keys (up, down, left and right,) a select button, volume and speed controls, and a help button.

This was the worker’s first time setting up this equipment. She had technical difficulties at first. After restarting the machine two times and numerous apologies, she finally got the sound going. “It worked!” I told her with a huge grin on my face.

“Great!” She said with a sigh of relief.

I was finally in action! After reviewing the instructions on how to navigate through the ballot, I began to make my selections. I used the arrow and select keys to do the actual voting. The audio was clear, and best of all, I could adjust it to the volume and speed I wanted.

This voting experience was very positive for me. I would advise voters who are blind or visually impaired to be patient and assertive at the same time. If a pole worker cannot work out the audio equipment, it is not because they don’t want to, but because this is also a new experience for them. Be persistent, but kind at the same time, and you will have a positive experience.

I highly encourage everyone — whether you can see or not — to register and vote. This is a wonderful opportunity — it enables you to be heard. Voting for the first time gave me a better appreciation for my country. I realized that not many people have this privilege, and we often take it for granted.