Disabled voters have much to gain if touch-screen voting is approved for use in the November 2004 presidential election. But California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley's decertification of these electronic voting machines on April 30 could mean disabled voters have much to lose.

A Riverside County lawsuit filed against Shelley is going ahead as planned despite his recent statement saying he is confident that 10 counties, including Riverside, will be allowed to use touch-screen voting machines in the November election if they comply with 23 security conditions. Among these new regulations are providing paper ballots for voters who choose not to vote electronically and taking precaution against tampering.

These conditions, as reported by Shelley's spokesman Doug Stone, are intended to ensure that all California votes are counted.

But when Shelley banned the use of touch-screen voting machines, specifically Diebold brand voting machines, citing security concerns and errors during the March 2 primary election, Riverside County, along with national and state disability organizations and disabled voters, filed a lawsuit against the Secretary.

Plaintiffs claim that the ban violates the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act and the Help America Vote Act of 2002 among other laws. The lawsuit states that the ban adversely affects voters with disabilities by denying them the right to vote independently and privately.

"Counties are required to make voting accessible to people with disabilities to the maximum extent feasible. The Secretary of State needs to stop preventing them from doing it," said John McDermott, lead counsel in the lawsuit against Shelley.

Plaintiffs are asking for a court order requiring the use of accessible voting machines at all polling places in time for the November 2004 election, he said.

Riverside became the first county in the state to use electronic voting machines in 2002 and has not had any problems with the system, according to Riverside County Registrar of Voters Mischelle Townsend.

"Riverside County is already in compliance with many of the security conditions set by Secretary Shelley and we're confident that we will be using touch screen voting machines in November," Townsend added.

  Shelley shares that optimism and also stated   he's "very confident" that Riverside County, along with San Bernardino, Plumas, Orange, Santa Clara and Shasta counties will be able to use their touch-screen voting machines in November after they tentatively agreed to comply with the conditions he set to recertify their electronic voting systems. He's also confident Alameda, Merced, Napa and Tenama counties will do the same.

Meanwhile, Solano County is the first in the state to suspend a contract with Diebold Election Systems, Inc. Shelley banned Diebold brand touch-screen voting machines because he said the company's machines do not have federal approval.

But some disabled voters like Peter Benavidez, a legally blind plaintiff in the lawsuit against Shelley, says not making electronic voting machines available compromises their freedom to cast a confidential vote. Benavidez, Chief Executive Officer at Blindness Support Services in Riverside, says the thought of returning to paper ballots frustrates him because he is unable to cast a vote independently. He must tell a poll worker his selection, and the poll worker then marks his ballot.

"I have to trust that the person who is filling out my ballot is really marking it like I want," he admitted.

With touch screen voting, he puts a headset on and can listen to his options and make his selection privately by pressing a button without another person seeing his vote.

"[Punch card balloting] takes away my freedom to do that," Benavidez said. "It takes away not only a person's independence, but also their privacy to cast a confidential vote."

He challenges Shelley's security concern over touch-screen voting machines saying he considers them "secure" and that electronic machines make voting accessible to those who did not have that opportunity before.

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