By Cindy V. Culp

Tribune-Herald staff writer

A seminar about voting rights is being held in Waco today, with a special emphasis on people who might be intimidated about casting a ballot due to physical impairments or anxiety about electronic voting machines.

The event is being sponsored by four organizations that work with people with disabilities, as well as the McLennan County Elections Office. The overall theme will be changes under the Help Americans Vote Act, a sweeping elections reform bill that was signed into law in 2002.

The act’s most noticeable provision mandated the use of electronic voting machines. But it also included new rules about polling place accessibility, the training of poll workers and related matters.

Although the law is six years old, many people still don’t realize all of the positive changes resulting from it, said Kelly Yarbrough, chairwoman of the Waco Mayor’s Committee on People With Disabilities. The group is one of the organizations sponsoring the seminar.

Some people with disabilities had given up after experiencing problems voting in the past, Yarbrough said. Also, some seniors are wary of using an electronic machine, mistakenly thinking it’s as complex as using a computer, she said.

To help allay those concerns, much of the seminar will be a hands-on demonstration of how to use the machines, Yarbrough said. A rundown of all their accessibility features will be offered, she said.

Those features include braille, enlarged text in Spanish and English, and an audio feature so people who are illiterate or have impaired vision can have the ballot read to them.

The machines also are compatible with mouth-controlled, “sip and puff” devices, which allow people who do not have use of their hands to send signals to a voting machine.

Before such features were available, people with disabilities often had to have a poll worker help them vote.

“(These accommodations) mean they don’t have to have someone press those buttons for them,” Yarbrough said. “They can vote independently.”

The seminar also will emphasize curbside voting. For those unable to get out of a vehicle, polling staff are required to roll a machine outside so they can vote there, Yarbrough said. That option might prove particularly useful to nursing home residents, she said.

Stephen Harvey, community resource specialist for the Heart of Central Texas Independent Living Center, another group hosting the seminar, said he’s optimistic that it will persuade more people to vote. Not knowing in advance what the voting experience will be like can be intimidating, he said.

“The whole idea from our standpoint is if people don’t participate in voting, they are not really participating in the decision-making of our country,” Harvey said. “You’ve got to continue educating people to help people know they’ve got the right to vote.”

The seminar also will cover the voter registration process. Oct. 6 is the deadline to register, said McLennan County Elections Administrator Kathy Van Wolfe.

People can pick up voter registration forms at local city halls, post offices or libraries, as well as from the elections office at 214 N. Fourth St., Suite 300. They also can call the elections office at 757-5043 to have a form mailed to them, she said.

So far this year, 130,449 people in McLennan County are registered to vote, an elections office official said. That is down from 134,650 in 2004, the last presidential election.

cculp@wacotrib.com

757-5744

—— TODAY ——

What: Voting rights seminar.

When: 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.

Where: Executive Plaza, 6801 Anger Ave., room 230 in Waco.

Other info: Interpreters will be available for people with hearing impairments, and other accomodations can be made for other disabilities; call (254) 214-7253.