Guest:  Mike Robinson

Topic:  Achieving the NYS Accessible Absentee Ballot

Duration:  5:43

Published:  June 9, 2020

Host:  Welcome to Independent Perspective, a public affairs presentation of Western New York Independent Living (WNYIL). Our guest today is Mike Robinson, President of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) of New York State. And your host is yours truly Ernie Churchwell. Welcome to the program Mike.

Guest:  Thank you for having us.

Host:  And you're going to be telling us about an exciting legislative victory that has been done on behalf of people with disabilities. But first, for our listeners that might not be familiar, what is the NFB?

Guest:  The NFB is the largest consumer organization of blind people in the world. We have over 50,000 members nationwide, as well as local chapters all over the country, and also all over New York State. We are the blind speaking for ourselves. We believe that you can live the life you want, and blindness is not what should be holding you back.

Host:  That's great, we love consumer run organizations. Well, what can you tell us about the lawsuit that led to the Accessible Absentee Ballot in New York State?

Guest:  Well, on May 22nd, we filed suit against the New York State Board of Elections, requesting an injunction regarding the June 23 elections in order to establish procedures for print disabled voters to be able to vote independently. Now, as a result of that, on June 3, we came to an agreement, and now have a system where you can apply for an absentee ballot, independently through your county board of elections website or the State Board of Elections website. You'll receive a ballot by email which you can complete independently and submit, according to the instructions that are included with the ballot, your ballot in time for the June 23 elections.

Host:  And this wasn't just an effort of NFB alone, who were your partners?

Guest:  Well, there was a coalition of organizations the Center for Independence of the Disabled, the NFB in New York State, the Disability Rights New York and the American Council of the Blind. We were all involved and as well as our appropriate legal defenses. And we had this established and in place in a week and a half, and it's not a perfect system, but it's a step in the right direction, you will be able to vote independently for the June 23 election. And we'll be working with the board of elections on a state level to establish more permanent, accessible voting opportunities, absentee voting opportunities for future elections.

Host:  And I believe you mentioned something about a survey about how this is working.

Guest:  And what we need is people to go through the process to apply for, to put in the request for an absentee ballot to receive an accessible absentee ballot, excuse me, to receive the ballot completed, and then we need you to complete a survey that we have. You can either do that by telephone by calling me at 716-222-3632. Or you can also do it directly off of our website, www.nfbny.org. But we need to collect the feedback on how the process worked, what worked, what didn't work, what problems people had, so we can address those in the future.

Host:  Mike, I believe that NFB has other programs that might be of interest to people could you just mention a couple.

Guest:  We have all kinds of programs for all different age groups. We have the Bell Academy for 12 year olds, summer day camp program, we have the Braille Reading Pals for zero to five year olds, we have programs for seniors, for all different interest groups. I'd be happy to discuss those with anybody at any time. We have so many different programs, I could go on longer than we have to talk.

Host:  Okay, well, before we close out the program, how can people reach you with more questions?

Guest:  Okay, I can be reached by email at president@nfbny.org or by telephone at 716-222-3632.

Host:  That's great. We appreciate all your efforts on behalf of voters with disabilities in New York State. And thanks for being with us.

Guest:  My pleasure.

Host:  You've been listening to Independent Perspective, a public affairs presentation of WNYIL. Our guest today was Mike Robinson, President of the NFB of New York State and your host was yours truly Ernie Churchwell.