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The Tribune |
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Twenty years ago, Mary Peacock attached a pen to her
forehead and signed her signature with slight movements of her head. She spent hours practicing the technique until she
had a signature she liked enough to make it permanent on a rubber stamp. Peacock, 47, of Peacock also used her stamp to sign her voter
registration card, but election officials will not accept it as an official
signature on her absentee ballot. Officials say the But Peacock and other members of People First of
SLO, a self-advocacy organization for people with disabilities, say their
stamps are their personal signatures. A mark such as an X indicates they are illiterate,
they say, and requiring a witness impairs their ability to vote privately and
independently, as required by the Help America Vote Act of 2002. So they are fighting at the state level to see the
elections code changed to allow for their disabilities. "The only way I can hold a pen (to make a mark)
is with my mouth," Peacock said, "and to me, that’s not really
clean." People First member Peter Stoner, who has no mobility in his hands, said
writing an X is degrading. He and other members wrote a letter to Secretary of
State Bruce McPherson asking him to declare signature stamps acceptable. "Since I’m physically unable to hold a pen, I
had several people write my name down more than once, and then I picked the
one I like," Stoner said in a dictated statement. "This is my
personal signature. It is accepted at my bank and on official documents. It
should be acceptable at the polls." People may use signature stamps on their absentee
ballots, but "they aren’t considered a signature under the elections
code," said county Clerk-Recorder Julie Rodewald. In her 12 years as clerk-recorder, Rodewald said using signature stamps on ballots has never
been an issue. "The reason for the additional process for the
witnessing is so that someone doesn’t take the stamp and use it to vote their
absentee ballot," Rodewald said. But People First president Jody Barker said marking
an X promotes the stereotype that people with disabilities are unintelligent. People First’s mission is to break stereotypes, he
said, and the organization will push the signature stamp issue, he said. A statewide debate People First of SLO raised the signature stamp issue
Oct. 2 at a statewide teleconference meeting regarding voting rights. After that meeting, Protection and Advocacy Inc., a
statewide nonprofit group that provides free legal service to people with
disabilities, raised the issue with the secretary of state’s staff, said
attorney Diana Honig with Protection and Advocacy
Inc. "From our perspective, (allowing signature
stamps) seems like a reasonable modification to accommodate somebody with a
disability," Honig said. "We would
encourage election officials to accept a signature stamp." Congress passed the Help America Vote Act in 2002 to
help voters with disabilities. That law requires that states have voting places
accessible to individuals with disabilities in a way that provides the same
opportunity for access and participation — including privacy and independence
— that other voters have. The law also requires that each voting place have at
least one electronic voting machine for those with disabilities to cast their
ballots in a private and independent manner. People First mailed its letter to the Secretary of
State’s Office on Oct. 11. The next day the secretary of state’s staff mailed
county clerks a letter clarifying that a signature stamp is not a voter’s
actual signature, therefore requiring the additional signature of a witness. Each state has its own voting code.
Michael Waterstone, a law
professor at Loyola Law School Los Angeles and expert in disability rights,
said he was unaware of a case precedent regarding signatures stamps for
voting. The law is ambiguous, but Waterstone
said people could argue that not being able to use just their signature stamp
makes voting more difficult for them than for others, and that could be a
violation of the Help America Vote Act. "I don’t think that’s an unreasonable request
by people with disabilities," he said. |