County Commissioners Court unanimously agreed Tuesday to spend $998,500 on 750 electronic voter check-in systems with software that will allow San Antonio-based DeafLink to offer the services of American Sign Language interpreters.
Each polling place will have at least two iPads equipped with the DeafLink software.
"This is deaf history, and they have waited a long time just for this to be on your agenda," DeafLink CEO Kay Chiodo said. "They come today to show you they want to vote. They want to be part of the process, and you're opening that door for them."
For years, the Bexar County Elections Department's headquarters on South Frio Street was the only polling site with deaf-accessible equipment. That increased to five locations in the presidential election last November, out of more than 300 polling sites.
About 100,000 deaf people live in Bexar County. In the last presidential election, 17 people used the county's interpretation services. In the May 3 elections — which had a low countywide voter turnout of 9.3% — no one used the service, said Elections Administrator Michele Carew.
"I know it's not necessarily the county's job to get people to the polls, but it's our job to make sure that access is maximized," Precinct 2 Commissioner Justin Rodriguez said. "Rather than saying that we're OK with 17 folks showing up, we gotta push for access for that 17,000 or 170,000 who show up who need it."
Several deaf county residents described for commissioners the barriers they've faced trying to vote. Cassell Grice, a pastor at Family Deaf Church, said the last time he voted, it took him nearly 30 minutes to complete the check-in process and cast his ballot — far longer than other voters at the polling site.
"People are looking forward to this," Grice said. "They are hungry for it. They're hungry for that communication."
The DeafLink subscription, which the county will pay for based on the number of users, can also be accessed by other county departments, potentially helping deaf individuals fill out marriage licenses or other government documents, Carew said.
The five-member court also voted 4-1 to pay another $434,000 for 350 smaller check-in devices to help streamline curbside voting. Precinct 3 Commissioner Grant Moody cast the lone no vote, citing cost constraints and the smaller number of curbside voters.
The new check-in technology could be implemented by the June 7 runoff election that pits Gina Ortiz Jones, a one-time Air Force undersecretary, against former Texas Secretary of State Rolando Pablos for San Antonio mayor. But Moody and Rodriguez urged a slower roll-out to give election workers more time to adjust to a new system.
Carew, who became the county's elections chief in March, is enacting several changes in the elections department. She also overhauled the election-night vote tracker, swapping PDFs for a interactive website where people can book-mark races and track vote tallies with the assistance of color-coded bar charts.
Advocates for ballot access for the disabled say the elections office under Carew's predecessor, Jacque Callanen, was slow to embrace technology that could help deaf voters navigate polling sites.
"It has been a long, long, long time struggle for our deaf community to gain equitable access to polling locations," said Melanie Cawthon, executive director of the nonprofit advocacy group disABILITYsa. "After seven years of pushing and pushing, today we have the opportunity to say, 'Let's bring (American Sign Language) and language access to all of our polling locations for all of our residents.'"
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