Rice County issued a statement yesterday announcing that their newly purchased assistive marking devices for voting will be in place in most precincts in time for the special 1st Congressional District primary on May 24th.
Called OmniBallot Tablets, they will allow voters to make text larger or smaller by zooming in or out, use headphones to listen to voting instructions and lists of candidates for each office on the ballot with adjustable speeds so the listener can understand the speaker clearly, select a white screen with black lettering or a black screen with white lettering, or read the ballot in Braille.
The federal government requires devices that meet Americans with Disabilities Act standards be located in polling places with more than 500 registered voters during township elections, and all polling places during state and federal elections.
The devices will be set up to ensure privacy when voting and placed on tables that allow wheelchairs to slide underneath them. The tables are hardened, do not access the internet, and do not calculate vote totals.
The machines will be available for public display weekdays from Thursday, March 24 to Monday, May 23 at the Rice County Government Services Building in Faribault.
