Enhance eSignature Legitimateness for Disclosure Notice in Australia

How to eSign a document: eSignature legitimateness for Disclosure Notice in Australia

okay I'm going to mute myself so you don't hear my dogs bark if they bark yeah that's good Cheryl just be ready to um sing out when we uh when we call your name here on the roll in a few minutes yeah and just a side note yeah that Cheryl is on but a major a quorum of the members needs to be on video yeah that may be true although I'm I would argue that that is discrimination in the case of this committee um you know we can't see each other anyway I I think that rule may have been made for the cited people Anthony but uh BTW do you have your camera on um well I'm not a member so I don't need well well but we tell the public that anyway yeah but I I can We're not gonna make an issue out of it and um and and if somebody wants to make an issue out of it they can but I'm the chair of the committee today and I'm going to declare that we have a quorum uh as long as Cheryl is on W with audio now if somebody wants to take me sounds good now here yeah exactly if somebody wants to take me to court about it they can do that sounds good and um I guess you know my attitude we're we're waiting for Rota yeah and um we give him about three more minutes or so and then 59 42 seconds okay we do have um and I'll just we can wait a few more minutes if you want um before I wa I don't want to wait very long uh maybe one or two minutes your call right right we we will not wait longer than five minutes okay yeah sounds good e it sounds like okay it sounds as though we're ready to go um okay remote is here also seconds okay this is James gashel and I'm going to go ahead and call the meeting to order this meeting of the Statewide elections accessibility needs advisory committee is called to order and it is 1:3 p.m. on June 20 2024 the meeting is being conducted by video conference and uh telephone committee members uh it that have them please keep your cameras on for the entire meeting I'll now take roll call pursuant to HRS 92 3.5 you're required to uh disclose whether or not anybody is present with you at the meeting so um please while we're doing the rooll indicate whether somebody else is present and identify that person okay here's the roll call ramota Anan Rota Anan Rota you can unmute yourself yeah yeah okay good Ramona Anan is here good Ramona welcome Katherine Kim I'm present I have someone else in the house in another room but they are not part of this meeting or on the video thank you Cheryl Nelson Cheryl Nelson okay I couldn't get unmuted sorry I go ahead you're here this is CH and anybody with you I'm uh yeah two dogs and a cat okay very good thanks thank you Cheryl Jam James gashel Vice chair and nobody is with me and Patricia morresy not here so we have four of our five members and um I'm going to um declare that this is a quorum uh uh even if we were to lose one Cheryl Nelson is present without a camera I'm going to take the position as chair of this meeting that she's a legitimate member of this committee and a participant and part of the Quorum a quorum does not depend on whether or not you have a camera if someone thinks it does they can take me to court pursuant to HRS 923 7 this is a remote meeting using interactive uh conference technology for members of the public your microphone uh will be unmuted until you are recognized if you want to speak we will take public testimony as we go through each agenda item if you would like like to testify press or click uh the raised hand uh button it's it's in the reactions part of Zoom or on the phone press star9 if you're using uh the phone that is now uh unmute your um microphone when recognized State your first name your last name and the item or items that you want to um speak about so that way we know and it will also be part of the meeting record each testifier will have up to three minutes to testify so uh we'll have time for everyone uh else that may want to testify you can uh you you will you will be asked to U conclude your remarks when your time is up if technical issues arise we will give each testifier a few minutes to try to resolve them but we'll have to move on if the problem can't be fixed so we're going to to go on to the agenda item two is approval of the minutes of the Statewide elections accessibility needs advisory committee of May 7 20124 these minutes were set out with the meeting packet do I have a motion to approve approve the minutes Ka time moves to approve I have a motion to approve the minutes do I have a second come on one of you guys or else or else I have to second it one of you some Cheryl and okay I keep having trouble unmuting it keep saying I'm I'm muted by The Host and then uh it takes me a while to get maybe we can maybe we can make Cheryl um cherl you are co-host but you can just stay unmuted yeah and then I'll mute myself on this end I second the motion okay thank you Cheryl and uh all in favor signify by saying I poos say no okay the the motion carries item three is update from the office of c s on the status of committee's previous recommendations relating to voter education Outreach and accessible voting and I'm going to um Anthony I guess I'll recognize you and you can recognize whoever else you want to to uh give us this information okay that's me the following is an update on recommendations provided to OE regarding accessible voting enhanced voting is focused on live voting system for the primary election which includes updating the specific voting return options for accessibility voters you Cava voters and 5day voters enhance voting is addressing updates to the demonstration ballot which public can use for practice with voting on an accessible ballot includes the future of returning the ballot and submitting it in addition currently that portion has currently been up dated for the demonstration ballot FYI um the committee recommended that OE consider options to provide free reduced rides to voter centers to gather background of the feasibility efforts OE reached out to City and County of Honolulu Department of Transportation Services inquired about wave waving the bus fair for voters traveling to a voter service center their office shared that the process would need approval from the Honolulu City Council and there is not sufficient time for that process in order to anticipate Transportation needs of Voters we are um Gathering a listing of different agencies that may provide V Transportation Assistance or Transportation options and we'll have that information as part of the hotline if anybody calls in addition if you folks have any other um information on Transportation please feel free to share that with us and we can add that to our list with that that's our report thank you Anthony um good good report uh as chair I'm I'm going to well let me first let me before I say anything regarding this I want to give the public and uh me first of all members of the of the committee members of the committee an opportunity to um speak speak on this and then we'll open it up to for public testimony so any other uh comments from uh member Kim uh Aman or uh Nelson okay hearing none then I'm GNA open this up to members of the public who may want to testify on this subject and I believe I heard Donald sakamoto's hand raised Donald Sakamoto you recognized can you hear me now yes well thank you James uh Donald sakono chair of the Hano County uh elections accessibility needs advisory committee I I sent an email before James uh to all of you about having Catholic Charities and uh uh Dale Evans from uh um the taxi company um to see if they can help out did anybody get in touch with them Anthony Charlie so the answer that um we do have them as a list but with Catholic Charities they do have different communities that they serve and different things that they um service so if they if you do have transport for example one of Catholic Charities do serve um veterans um so if you are a veteran and have a transportation needs you can contact Catholic Chari section in regards to that they also have a another section but definitely um and maybe Charlie that taxi D Evans have you outreached to her too no I do you have the number but then I do you have any information in regards to their um services that they may be providing yeah I thought I I thought I email it to you and Ne in an email but I'll double check that and send it to you folks again make make sure you send that in thank you very much anybody else wanting to testify on this particular report okay um comments that I'd like to make on this report would be um first of all uh very good information on um on needing to get city council approval to make this happen in the future and uh I hope for the sake of the um record here we don't lose track of the fact that we need to work on this well in advance of the um 2026 election think of we're already thinking 2026 election general election but uh but there you go um and as far as the list goes um I want to visit with Anthony a minute here on this I know you'll have this available able for the hotline um can you also make this list available on the um page about voters requiring assistance yeah we can work on that I think that would be a good idea it's a good spot to put it and um that way uh people can can pick it up there um okay very good um my next comment regarding this report is the um uh accessible electronic ballot and um I'm noting that we're I think 32 days away from ballots being distributed um and last I know the return system wasn't hooked up yet um I think we should have and we're unlikely to have a meeting between now and the time ballots come out so I recommend that we um request a written report on the written status report on uh the electron ballot return system uh so we know well in advance of when ballots come out whether or not this option is working a written report to that effect do I have a second for that recommendation Katie K seconds Katie Kim second to make a note on that before you anyway go ahead what what yeah it's actually resolved the submit button on a demonstration portal has been up has been resolved that's great now in the demonstration uh the fact that that has been resolved is very good but uh does that confirm Anthony that everything is hooked up so we can count on the fact that our ballot does go through to the appropriate County yes they're they're working on that process okay exactly exactly so so I I I meant to say in this report that we should have confirmation when it is when it is actually hooked up so we can count on the fact that our ballots are going through it's fine to have the submit button for the demonstration but I'm I'm going now to the live um process and and we're not going to have we're not going to have meetings between now and then so I want this committee to be able to know that that part of the process is hooked up and operational I don't want to be surprised and learn later that it didn't happen we will definitely keep you guys posted all right very good yes I guess we don't need the second then I got a commitment on the record from uh my friend Anthony thank you Anthony all right I think we'll go on to item four unless anybody else has anything on item three item four is update on HB 1976 relating to the Statewide election accessibility advisory committee's um request for uh funds uh that's what this bill is all about or was all about and it was HB 1976 in the um second session of the 32nd legislature uh the the funds if they had been approved could Beed used for um to gather information and provide Outreach and voter education uh relating to accessibility needs uh the bill passed every step but one which which was the most pivotal step it it it did pass the Senate the first time it passed the house the first time it crossed over and then it um was not in the end approved it it was not brought up by the um Senate Ways and Means Committee and so the bill died at the end of the session it was a bill for $10,000 um to do the things I specified you know we'll we'll need to decide whether we make this request in another year we don't have to decide that now um we have the option as the office of elections has pointed out of asking them for the money which I my knowledge we've never done and probably should consider doing before we ask the legislature for that so we'll keep that in mind for the future but that that closes the loop on hb1 1976 uh I'll open it to the members first to see if you want make any comments regarding that bill um and then we'll open it to the public yes uh Romana I AG I age I agree he says he he agrees okay good thank you Rota um Katie go ahead Katie I have a question Anthony in the past my understanding was that the office of elections did not have a budget that was specific to what we're doing as the committee and thus we went to legislation so is there a budget that allows for requests of funding for the committee within the office of elections or did you put in for an additional request so that it would help us or can you do that because there's a couple of ways to go about this in my thinking so in terms of the 10,000 that was not requested that was um requested by um the committee through the legislature understood but my question to you is if now Jim said that we could ask the office of elections for funding for the work we do I had understood in the past there was no budget for that so if I if we as a committee decide to ask then where's the funding coming from so there is not a specific funding as as you asked for the committee mhm but if you again if there's items like the survey if that falls in within voter registration or Outreach then we can see how we can implement it but what the committee wanted was an additional um funding mechanism so you know that can always be discussed at another time I believe Cheryl Nelson may have raised her hand this is Cheryl my my yes um yeah I I would think that if we're your committee that you guys could find you know or move which is not easy because yeah it's just not but money to accommodate the needs of this particular committee um we went to the legislature because we understood you had no money so we went to the legislature to try to get some money thank you any K so then in strategizing for the future I'm wondering if then in terms of the office of elections budget because I'm assuming your budget is approved by legislation every year ing to what you submitted or stay as is that we work on it as the overall that there's a line item specific to this Committee in your budget which has not been present before is that an alternative so one of the things that we we shared with the committee and you folks have ideas or concepts or proposal if you can put that together together MH and then we can review that proposal in terms and see how it would um how we can Implement so again it if you folks have you know like a proposal for a certain item or certain thing we can see if it would fit within you know the areas of voter education or Outreach I I understand that but my question goes to a bigger picture of you might say no we don't have it and yet then we can't do our work so in our support of your budget as well as ours I'm looking at that that is potentially an annual legislative approval of your budget for everything you do that we need to add to your budget align item specific to this committee so that the work can be ongoing and that we don't have to question when we send proposal and we know that there's an allotted amount in your budget specific to this Committee in the way that I understand legislation budgets and state departments work that's really what I'm looking to consider is the committee that in our legislative work in support of what we do in the office of elections rather than a proposal specific that you may not have the funds and then we're you know up a creek without being able to do the work that might need funding you you know that that is definitely something that we can consider and we can take it back to the office but um I I just wanted to again reiterate that um if you folks do have a proposal and we we've asked for prop a proposal so that's the thing if you plan and you provide us with specific budgeted proposal and the cost then we can then take it back and see how it can be possibly implemented I believe I believe um excuse me um I think Cheryl Nelson Cheryl Nelson has her hand raised and I think um Rada also wants to comment on this so Cheryl you go ahead and then romada this is Cheryl um I I'm thinking that if you look at the legislation the bill you could see what we proposed and so why should we have to write a new proposal to accommodate I mean it seems like everything we do there's such a huge process but if you look at the legislation that we asked for you know what we needed it's all right there and now go go ahead let's see let's hear from rat also [Music] okay did somebody um get a understanding of rat's comment I apologize I did not yeah um Roman I don't know if you have a way of writing it into the um chat box um I think it would be a good comment if we can get the information if you have somebody available that could write that into the chat box um we'll we'll look for we'll look for that why do that oh he said why don't we do that next year yes yes okay yes well that's right yeah you're absolutely right Raman um my my thought was we're likely to have one more Mee meeting that is timely before uh submissions have to be made to the legislature we'll be talking about future meetings but my thought is given the election periods coming up that um we could have a meeting in September and we may have a meeting in December December's a little late uh because information has to be into the legislature by um December for sure September's fine and and so we could put this specifically on the agenda for the meeting that we have let let's at least let's say right now in the fall we have to uh accommodate to the office of elections who runs the elections and it has a lot to do in October coming up to the November election and in August coming up to the primary so we have to work around that so I'm thinking we will have an opportunity for a fall uh so September type meeting and I suggest that we put this on the agenda for that meeting and make the request that a budget person or the appropriate um policy level person from The Office of election s be requested to be present at that meeting for a discussion Anthony um is with the Outreach people and perfectly nice but he doesn't run the place in terms of the budget so he can only tell us what he's telling us it would be helpful if we could meet with a person who will actually have a lot to say about what goes into the legislature my my my general thought is that um I don't know if we'll we'll have to think this through I don't know if we actually want a line item we do want acknowledgment in the this is a budget year uh coming up this is the banum so the office of elections will have an opportunity to State their budget to the legislature and should include the Statewide elections accessibility needs advisory committee in that budget I'm not sure I'm prepared to say include a specific dollar amount but among the items that they expect to support would be the Statewide elections accessibility needs advisory committee that's that's kind of where my thinking is going on this and I suggest we put this off until till a fall meeting Katie I was going to you're on the same page I am in my thinking Jim and I was going to make a motion to add this to the next agenda so we can actually work on it I believe a motion's required to add an agenda item sure let's let's uh take that motion and ensure that the budget person is present so that we can actually work on it but I'm page right I'll take that motion and do I have a second for that motion Cher I second it I have a second from Cheryl and I think R was seconding that motion and so I will uh now all in favor signify by saying I I I I okay so and anybody opposed nobody's opposed so the motion passes unanimously Anthony if you would make sure that's in the minutes recorded that way and find us somebody that we can talk to so noted you got it okay um we're down to item well let's see I wait I guess we're I don't think we asked for the public I don't think we asked for the public on that last one so let's see if anybody from the public wants to testify on item four in the agenda there's no raise hand okay very fine we're going to go on to item five and this is review and discussion on the uh on the proposed sheet this has to do with the that the committee drafted pertaining to workers at voter service centers the draft of this sheet which is called draft three was included and it was the revision result Ed from our May 7 meeting I am not inclined given the fact that it's up against the primary to revise this draft Beyond draft three but we'll take comments first and then I think the action will be to vote to approve or don't approve this um draft so do I have from committee members do I have any comments this is Cheryl can you hear me go ahead Cheryl yes we can um my hand's been raised for a bit but um go ahead I I I wanted to go back to the previous subject if that's okay yes it is um not that I'm advocating for more meetings believe me um but I thought at some point we were we agreed that we were going to have H I hate to say this but monthly meeting until the ele the primary um but I that could have been changed and I didn't know about it so um I'm fine with waiting till September I just wanted to address that because I think it was in a meeting a while back we uh we we've actually had monthly meetings um all the way through from the time we started that pattern however we're now we're now up again we're now we're now against the primary which is wh when the ballots come out um July 23 one reason this meeting is um later than it would have been the first Tuesday of June but that was candidate filing time and we very much we we very much need to have the staff of the office of elections present for the meetings because that's the people we're talking to so it doesn't really do us good to meet in the absence of the staff so therefore we delayed this meeting to this date um in July we we actually have the same issue July is in the workload at the office of elections increases exponentially as we approach the primary election which is August 10 so um we do have to accom accomodate to their capability and besides if we make recommendations at that point it's a little bit late to implement anything so I think I think we've kept Faith with the uh idea of meeting monthly but now we're dealing with what's what's feasible the same situation happens the same situations happens with the November election the uh ballots come out in uh on October 18 but there's work to do in advance and and I don't think we need Anthony to detail all the work but they have audits to do and they have lots of preparation to get ready for the election so we don't want to get in their way uh but we also want to keep a a good schedule of meetings going in in November we have the November 5th election then we have the holiday so my thinking was that we're we'll probably in up meeting in early December it we'll discuss this all at the end of the meeting Cheryl but um to tell you the truth I think we're staying pretty much on track with a good schedule of meeting frequency enough to give the office advice when they can help to do something about it like I said I'm not advocating for more meetings I just was checking to see and I I agree I think we're on track and that's all I wanted to say thank you good good thank you very much um so we're back to the brochure and the the go ahead Donaldo has his hand up go ahead hello chair can you hear me go ahead yes we can yeah uh don s elections assess needs advisory committee chair I'd like to thank Mr James gashel and the Statewide uh elections board for and Pat morisy for making this uh hips brochure we had a meeting on uh last week Friday James came there to discuss about this brochure as well as election election process of the electronic ballot and we're in favor of uh toing of this brochure is it really helps the uh uh voter uh staff and volunteers to know what to do so good was for you folks for putting this together and um I I I have full support we have full support from our County for this Brer thank you all right any other testimony from the public regarding the the uh tips sheet okay do I have go ahead no additional hands raised excellent do I have a Katie yes I'm moving to approve this brochure having read it but not able to partic participate in it at the time I was out of the country I wholeheartedly approve and make a motion I have a motion to approve the Tip Sheet do I have a second yeah I have a second from romada and um all in favor signify by saying I I I I didn't he Cheryl I I I couldn't get in so sorry yeah you okay on you okay I'm an i yeah okay got you all right yeah all right so good so the Tip Sheet is approved now um let's talk about the distribution of the Tip Sheet um understand that that the um elections the the voter service centers and popup service centers are operated by the counties so this Tip Sheet is primarily aimed at the counties not the state we put it together to help the counties um so I think what we're saying is we're asking the office OE staff to uh once this is approved now to distribute to each County election office for their use during the primary and presidential election period um so it goes without saying I think I don't know that we need to vote on that but Anthony do you understand that that would be the next step we understand that it'll be disseminated to the county election divisions okay excellent and um I also want to recommend that this document be posted on U at least on our Committee website um or we can do that and or and or other Pages um for example the voters requiring assistance page are you with me on that sounds good we'll keep you posted once it's posted thank you uh Mr chair ktie yeah go ahead Katie uh I know that I saw drafts moving around when you were working on it with Pat but I'd like to know the final is that something the committee could be sent via email as an attachment so that we I think it's in the I think is it in the packet and I missed it yeah I read through the packet this morning Anthony correct yeah that's what I thought it's in the packet for this meeting Katie okay and it was disseminated earlier yeah um I believe by yeah that's right it is it's the if you look at the packet for this meeting It's the final document in that packet I I did miss it then and then it's there um my final part of the question is is it the final in that it could be sent to be posted on new line for public awareness uh well yes now that brings up a another point and um let me or other places like that for accessibility access correct thank you it's now it's it's very much informational for the world it the primary audience of this document is people who work at voter service centers understood so so it's you know you you want to think about that it's it's not the same as it's not a brochure about your rights as a voter with disability or anything like that understood I just it would be in a format then that when people go they know if they go to a polling Center they would know um yeah what's been trained taught uh the the volunteers are exposed to right for for the record for the record and and the information of uh the OE staff uh the service that she referred to called nfb newsline um is a is a service accessible by telephone and uh mobile apps and a website and provides um information of all kinds lots of newspapers but a lot of local information in fact on that service is um a lot of material from the office of elections already so I think we could recommend uh if it's not already in place to the OE staff that they um uh regularly send Publications uh not exclusively relating to disability but put nfb newsline on their mailing list and I'll make sure that you have the appropriate contact information Anthony so if they're not on there uh they will be and James it's it's for your information it's we do have the contact and the newsletters are going out to the um manag of newl good okay thank you very much that's done so so uh while we're talking about posting on the website Anthony you should probably go ahead and send this um tips sheet as well okay I'm now going to item seven which is is update on the availability and accessibility of the digital voter guide and this one would go to Anthony to talk to us about it hi uh chair hi chair go and committee this is Ray go ahead Ray hi uh than on state your state your full name for the rec yes of course uh yes my name is Raymond DEA I'm also with the voter Services section here at the office of elections go ahead okay uh so just some background on the digital voter guide um for those that may be unaware act 115 was enacted during the 2023 legislative session um and so what that act does it is it requires our office to publish a digital voter guide um beginning with this coming elections um so that requires our office to print um the copies of the voter digital voter guide as well and that will be available at public libraries for voters to review um the ACT also requires that the digital voter guide be translated in Chinese Hawaiian ilano and talog um and lastly it does require um relevant to this committee that the digital guide meets accessibility standards um including that it is screen reader accessible um so I just want to give some basic background on what's included in the voter guide and then I'll touch upon um how we're addressing the accessibility needs um so first and foremost of course um this is entirely optional for the candidates to participate in um so what we did is during the um candidate filing process all candidates were given the opportunity to provide a photo um and a statement of 149 words maximum um and they were required to submit the statement and photo at the time of filing um so what we produced in the guide um we include of course the basic candidate information so that's the candidates legal name their ballot name the office they're running for um their party affiliation and contact information so that voters um can get in touch with them if they want more information so that includes a phone email and website if they've provided to us um at the time of filing um additionally in the uh voter guide uh there are topics covered related to voter education so that includes um the ballot return deadlines uh information about how to find the ballot Dropbox and voter service center locations and hours um information about same day voter registration um and we have a dedicated section to to information about accessible in-person voting um as well as the electronic ballot um option so a section dedicated to accessible voting um options um the digital voter guide will be published um two ways so of course the digital would be via our website so that's elections. hawaii.gov it'll be available online um and then as I briefly mentioned the printed copies will be available at libraries um so specific to the acessibility need and um what this committee would be interested in regarding this topic um is that we utilize the userway um tool I'm not sure if you folks are already familiar with that um but userway um is a widget that's added on a website that allows um several accessibility uh settings for the voter to access so some of these settings include the ability to use a screen reader to listen to the page as you navigate through it um the voter could also change the contrast increase text size and text spacing um change the line Heights and text alignment for easier reading um and it's also um friendly to um communities that may be suffering from dyslexia so you can make a a adjustments to the text based off of that um and what's really great about the tool as well um is that it includes preset profiles and it'll make adjustments to the users page ing to those profiles so say for instance um your motor impaired or color blinds or visually impaired um if you select one of those profiles it will make automatic adjustments so that the features on the website um are more catered to you and allow you to easily review um the digital guide uh we do actually currently have this tool on our homepage so if you visit our homepage elections. hawaii.gov um in the top right hand corner is where you can access that and you folks can get used to it now um that way uh when the digital guide is released um you'll already be familiar with it um I will also mention that uh with uh user way it allows us to meet the standards under Section 508 of The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 um as well as the web content accessibility guidelines um that's all I have on the background but I'm of course open to any questions the committee may have um okay Jim gashel here one one one other we'll hear from the public here just a moment we'll First Take comments from our members um Rey uh one thing I would suggest and this goes back to the last agenda item this is something that should be sent to the nfb newsline system so because a lot of people access the audio and Braille content through that system so um if you send it there you don't really have to do anything else but send it in and it gets formatted properly for that um system so you should send it just to be specific you're asking that um we inform them that the digital guide is published is that what you're ask no I no I I think you should um the person Anthony knows but is lanne Blake and I think the way to do this would be to consult with her but she'll probably want file not not to have to pull it off of a website but um uh files such as you might use to uh it could be a word file it could be a text file I'm not going to talk about the details of that but it would be F not the website yeah absolutely we'll we'll work alongside them I will also mention that um there's a downloadable PDF version and as you may already be familiar um the PF um version allows you to utilize Adobe which would have person accessibility features as well I will tell you right now that this um service for people with print disabilities does not allow for a PDF to be uploaded to the place that the users would access it that's why it's best if you and Anthony reach out to Lan Blake she will be able to work with you on that so that she receives something she can use to post it for the individuals that use it with print disabilities okay thank you for the recommendation we'll we'll follow up by their team uh let's see did we have another member hand raised okay we'll take testimony from the public on this subject uh do I have anybody from the public with a hand raised Anthony Donald Sakamoto all right Donald Sakamoto you are recognized oh yeah thank you chair thank you for can you hear me now yes okay thank you chair thank you for the uh demonstration man uh my my thing is uh you there's some people that don't have computer or news line and would the State library of the blind be a good place to uh Reach Out For A B copy as well as a audio copy that can be read on their audio systems so that's a food for thought okay thank you for the libr library for the blind right that yes we have contacts there we we often work with them with our resources already so we have an established relationship with them um so we will also make sure they have this discuss with their office as well yes cor exactly good very good so those are things that are well within our um good within our mindset When approaching this project excellent excellent thank you and Cheryl Cheryl Nelson raise hand go ahead Cheryl I'm here go ahead um uh couple other places I thought of um for accessibility uh is is um the learning disability Association of Hawaii I believe that's still its name they might have some good hints for accessibility and also what um what are we doing to accommodate people who are hard of hearing and or death so um I don't I we're going to refer this question to Ry but on the def um I think you'd be talking about de blind um de can read the Just DE can read the document it's a digital voter uh guide so it's all up there in print de blind can read the document um with an accessible Braille display uh using nfb newsline that would be one way they can access it and then I just wanted to PIV you back on that um regarding the one of the features of user way um is that it does have a built-in screen reader so that would address the need for someone to um listen to the the information candidate names and valid information um utilizing the digital version this is Cheryl can you still hear me yes I can hear you fine I think that also it's it's kind of a Mis uh it's misinformation that people who are deaf can read English a lot of people who are deaf don't read English they they know sign language but their their first language may be sign language or Hawaiian sign language so I just wanted to know if um we considered you know having some available in Sign Language uh Cheryl thank you so much for the comments um you know in this first iteration um of the digital guide of course this is going to be the launching year um our main um focus is to be sure that we're meeting the accessibility requirements um as set forth by the law um of course as we move uh and grow um pass this election and have more experience with the um digital voter guide um we can Implement that in future elections um but again I just want to reiterate to the committee and the group and the audience here um that the um act 115 does specifically um mention that the um digital voter guide conform to the accessibility requirements um regarding web accessibility yeah so I I mean I'm taking in all the comments today and we'd be happy to um put that into action for future elections what right that that's a good point Ray one one thing I I would think about Cheryl is uh they might consider at a future election creating this guide in a YouTube form with um with um sign language and and having it read and by someone with and signed uh and that yeah should be one way to accommodate that that could be like captioned and signed exactly um because people with learning disabilities often will read the captioning but I just I just wanted to say that if uh if we can if we get a budget that that should be part of um of maybe expenses well that should be part of expenses that the um office of elections you know makes as a priority because even though and I get the web accessibility and all that stuff but we're like um we're like 34 years since the Ada and so you know I want us to move along and make sure that a lot of people are included not just in in the website but in the process I think it's a good point and um uh I think they're probably complying with the law this time out you have to walk before you run and uh I do think that uh you know this discussion helps give guidance for uh the way this could be done any future time right thank you that's all my comment that's good thank you than you very much um uh if we don't have any more comments on item six we'll go to item seven on the agenda item seven on the agenda is General discussion on issues for voters with disabilities um will take public testimony I want to make one recommendation in regard to this that I'd like to have some U discussion on um one thing that's been done I spoke with Anthony about this recently is on the front page of elections. hawaii.gov you'll Now find a link to voting accessibility that's the link to look for um Anthony I'd like to suggest and I may have suggested this to you uh on a previous time but it would be better to elevate this a little bit to make it a heading not just a link um with a screen reader we when we land on a web page we tend to go for headings first I think there are 74 links on the office of elections website and there are a lot fewer headings maybe May if there are 20 I'd be surprised so anyway one thought would be to make that a heading uh my next recommendation related to this though and I'd like the committee's input on this so when that page opens and and remember you're following the link for voting accessibility when the page opens it's the page we're used to although there's a lot of new information on it but the the um title of the page is voters requiring assistance uh in my mind that's uh uh not appropriate language for the page that we're that we're now developing it was appropriate when um basically the only thing you did to get accessibility is ask somebody to help you but now we're talking more about voting privately and independently including voting by yourself not needing assistance so I want to suggest that the page called voters needing assistance uh be revised and I I guess I would call call that page accessible voting or or voting accessibility I don't care what you do it but assistance is only one way of achieving accessibility you can you can achieve accessibility by getting an electronic ballot you can achieve accessibility by getting a a um uh an alternate format ballot and returning it by uh mail uh you can achieve it by faxing it in so you have a lot of options and assistance is only one of those options so I'd like to hear from the committee if you if you think I'm on the right track or you think I'm making a making a mountain out of a mole hill Cheryl Nelson hi James this is Anthony go ahead Anthony well I I need to hear from the Committee Member First okay show go ahead I agree because if it's voters needing assistance it does it doesn't cover that a lot of people don't need assistance and so um a lot of people you know voting you know voting access or voting accessibility and Independence or you know something a more um positive social model rather than kind of following what the medical model would say that's my comment thank you all right uh any other committee Members First and then Anthony I'll be happy to hear your comments uh any other committee Members First only that I agree I voting accessibility or access to voting those are appropriate words okay uh Anthony go ahead hi James I was just going to say we will work on making the revision voter accessibility and we will let the committee know when it's updated okay that's good uh I think that will be a more appropriate um page and I've got uh for the public I've got Donald Sakamoto with a raised hand go ahead Donald yeah chair uh G I agree with what you said on those two items totally agree that uh the changes need to be made I support that very good um any other comments from the public now I have um so Anthony suggested that they would go ahead and make that change so I don't think we I don't think we need to make a a a a recommendation here um I mean a formal motion um I do have one other recommendation relating to the web page um and that is that the US Department of Justice recently revised uh several Pages relating to the laws that pertain to accessible voting and U I don't need to get down into the weeds here this was somewhat mentioned in the minutes of our May 7 meeting and I've reviewed those pages they're full of and they were revised uh April 18 2024 they're full of really good information uh on the Americans with Disabilities Act as it relates to voting um the uh uh help America vote act uh and of course that entire Law relates to voting um the Motor Voter act uh it's not actually called that but it was informally called that when it was considered in the early 1990s but that law is discussed and and and especially in terms of how these relate to disabilities um I'm going to suggest that on our um the page we were just talking about as well as on the advisory committee's web page that we place at least one link and I I have in mind what that should be I can communicate that to um to you Anthony but so that people looking at our page will know that the US Department of Justice Al also has inform also has information that would be helpful to them uh and I have a raised Hand by Cheryl Nelson go ahead Cheryl sorry can you hear me yes we can hear you okay so um would you uh please send that link to um to the committee I would like to read or I sure will when I so when I send that link to Anthony I will make sure we include uh everybody's email and Anthony I'm may not have the email for uh Rada so if you would I believe I have everyone else's email but I don't have raman's if you could send me that I'd appreciate I definitely can send it and distributed to the committee okay I'd appreciate that very much and then I I will distribute at least that link that I have in mind that we should put up there um I assume you concur with that idea Anthony yes we can take a look at those links okay now one more and then I'm done and then we'll see if anybody else on the committee in the demonstration uh Hawaii accessible ballot demonstration page um currently after it demon after it talks about to open your accessible ballot under that there is a reference to request an absentee ballot and it says go back to the office of elections website to do this um I find that a little confusing there's some ambiguity that ought to be cleared up between absentee ballot and accessible format ballot um I think the ab the the ambiguity exists from the old days when if you weren't going to vote at a polling place you had to get an absent T ballot but now that we go to vote at home and we may do that electronically or we may do it on paper or some other way it isn't so important that you have an absentee ballot in fact it's it's not relevant at our one meeting um the other night uh a person that will be uh in highered in Washington state but she lives in Honolulu um asked if she had to sign up for an absentee ballot well the fact is she'll be voting getting her vote by email her her ballot by email and she's registered um so she's really not voting absentee even though she's not actual present in Honolulu so if that reference to absentee uh were change to alternate format ballot I think it would make a whole lot more sense do I have any comment from Anthony or Rey on this subject on the question of absentee and then I'll take comments from the yeah go ahead go ahead Ray hi um so I just wanted to uh make the distinction that um an absente ballot application is intended for someone um that would be voting by mail on that paper mail ballot um that would be away from the regular whole emailing address so say for instance um a college student attending school on the mainland uh maybe someone that temporarily Works um outside of the outside of Hawaii um that aente ballot application would allow um that ballot to be sent to an alternate address rather than their regular whole emailing address um but you're correct um in your earlier statement that if someone was to request an alternate format ballot it would be transmitted to them via email so it would not be um necessary for them to complete that absente ballot application but I just wanted to make that distinction that um the absentee ballot application still exists um regardless of us moving to vote by mail elections yeah so it's still an option for someone that votes on a paper ballot but is not at the regular ho mailing address um but I did want to get yeah hang hang on one second right so so that's a good that's a very good point but then I'm I'm wondering why the uh reference to absentee ballot is made on this web page called Hawaii accessible electronic ballot which is not a paper ballot it's the accessible elect Ric ballot and at that point you're not speaking about I can understand it if it showed up on the page before that where it says vote at home with a paper Ballot or request an absentee paper ballot now that would make sense ing to what you're telling me but I don't see it there it's not there at all it the only place absentee ballot occurs is on the page that op separately which is the demonstration of the Hawaii um uh accessible electronic ballot which ing to what you just said has nothing to do with an absentee ballot um it is possible that may be for um other voters in situations that they access the electronic ballot page um I'm not searching what the intention of is and I'm I just want to clear up you're referring to the initial page that a v voter visits right the one that says welcome to the Hawaii accessible electronic ballot system is that you want yeah okay um yeah I I'm not entirely sure what the intention was behind providing the absentee ballot request um linked there as well it leads my point is it leads to confusion okay um I will note that comment um I'll I'll discuss more with the team um it very well may be that that's intended for someone that's not requesting the electronic ballot and that they happen to be on that page and find that they need to actually request a ballot away from their whole emailing address that may just be another access point for them to get that information um but we can find out more information about you should look you should look in you should look into that because on the previous page it doesn't really say anything about an absentee ballot and ing to what you're telling me that the absentee ballot only relates to getting a paper ballot at a different mailing address and and so if that's the case that that needs to be cleared up because when we get an email ballot that's not an absentee ballot is that correct um that is correct so so just please look at that to make sure that that um issue is um there's nothing out there that's confusing along that line and absentee should be related to the paper ballot not the email r [Music] okay I'm going to take that as you agree with what's been said here yeah okay good all right um any other I have a raised Hand by Cheryl Nelson go ahead Cheryl um I I agree um that it should be changed and also what I understood was absentee ballots you can have an absentee ballot sent to your own personal address am I correct about that uh no you're not um so an absente ballot so I mean just to provide more context again um as a registered voter um your ballot would be automatically mailed to the mailing address associated with your voter registration um so the absentee ballot application is primarily intended for someone that's away from that registered mailing address so in your case if you were to vote at home with a paper ballot there would be no need for you to um utilize the absente ballot application because again You' be receiving um your ballot at your regular mailing address okay that that clears that up but I think I also think that um I agree with James that that uh that that the link should you know the absentee ballot is paper so that should come under the paper ballot section or heading you know um that's what I wanted to say thank you MH thank you okay any other comments of a well we have we're in the subject of General um issues and um I see on my list I did have one other item but I'll be happy to take any other testimony from the public on this subject before I mention this one anybody from the public okay last point Point as far as I can tell I understand that the hotline um staff I can never say this number um what is it 453 8683 is that the correct number yes that's correct James yeah 453 8683 and um and people will be answering that number as we get closer to the election um for specific calls I wonder if issues that are raised on calls are logged in any uh way shape or form so so you get a sense of what kinds of inquiries are being made when when you mean tally like in terms of what kind of calls yeah if I call you and I ask a question relating to how do I get an electronic ballot do you log that that was a question about how do I get an electronic Ballot or do you just talk to me and go away we do have um a tally that that gets generated as far as um different calls types of calls so you you write it up a little bit to identify at least the subject matter is that correct yeah so if that's the case um what I'd like to recommend on behalf of the committee is that um if it's not already in there um questions relating to accessibility needs s be logged that's what was that that's fine yeah does that mean it'll be done yes okay good um and and we you know it goes without saying that at at some future meeting we're probably going to ask for a report which um at least not to identify the person obviously but but the types of questions or that there were so many questions relating to people with accessibility needs that contacted the hotline um okay yes okay all right affirmation by silence I just wanted to also note that yeah go ahead sometimes there might be calls that come in and it might be from a person that does have a disability but they don't necessarily um say that they have a disability but they may ask other questions oh absolutely we we we're not prying as to whether they have a disability but I think it would be helpful to the committee to know what kinds of in queries are being made relative to accessibility needs I agree with that thank you and I have a a raised Hand by Cheryl Nelson you're recognized Cheryl I this is Sherl I also agree all right good all right so we're unanimous on on that one um we're down to item eight unless unless I hear from anybody on the public on this one item eight oh that okay I have a raised Hand by Donald sakono Donald you're recognized yeah James that's a very good point you brought out about having statistics of people or questions and what not but how about having a uh survey done later to just get feedback from the public how the experience was with the uh process in one of uh the election with disabilities yeah we'll uh I think I think we we have a previous survey we'll probably dust that off after the election and try to get it out fairly soon I would think we would be wanting to do that but the committee will decide that at one of our future meetings thank you Donald yeah fantastic thank you thank you we're on to item eight on our agenda which is discussion on possible future meetings now I W in a dialogue with Cheryl a few topics back we got into this just a little bit and so I think I explained that we need to work within the uh capabilities of the office of elections this is June this is this is June 20 and Cheryl I'll get to you in a minute this is June 20 the primary is in a month I don't want to bother them before the primary um and then of course in August is the primary um they have a little bit of work to do I assume after the primary um so you have maybe some of August would be available and September but once you get into October you're looking toward the general election what do you guys think about a meeting and the timing of a meeting between the um primary between the pr between the primary and the general election uh Cheryl go ahead you're recognized okay this is Cheryl um I agree with that I I think that's fine anybody anybody want to suggest um any anything Donald I'm I I'll recognize you go ahead yeah thank you chair the Honolulu uh elections um assess needs advisory committee is going to have a meeting I believe in September I think it's a third Friday if I recall from our last meeting for last week and uh we would like to get uh input from our County what happened at the uh border centers with our uh election for special uh for the person with disabilities so if you can do something before that or around the same time we would appreciate whatever you folks can do in September we're open thank right thank you Donald good good information and something that we'd want to know to to work around um Katie KH Katie go ahead I would put it to Anthony and his stuff and I really don't know because of their workload but late um August early September maybe I but I would put it to them because of their workload yeah sure Anthony um you want to put out a uh you want to give us some idea about what might work for you guys hi CH as this is R go ahead R to give some context on um what happens after the primary election um a significant amount of our staff um does assist with the post election audits um and that's well into late August um which is why I believe September may be September or October would be the best if we're looking at earliest I'd say September um it would be difficult um to schedule something in late August after the primary election why don't we why don't we do this um why don't we suggest unless unless any of you guys have another idea I'm willing to entertain it but why don't we do this ask Anthony to give us a poll of dates uh Tuesday in September let I guess we do work from Tuesday we usually do Tuesdays uh give us Tuesdays in September that we are available and could do a meeting what do you think about that I'm good with that um I'd like to also say I heard Ray say October is that correct so September October what are the best for your workload and that also um a poll for the ones after the general election and not knowing that workload but uh the chair had suggested maybe something early December but really relying on you knowing your workloads so I think um absolutely um early December would work for something after the general because yeah we do have um Audits and um right things that's takes place in November as well so in line with what uh Mr gashel said I would say to put the poll out to the committee and then we determine what's best for everybody okay so why don't we do this uh we don't need to Define this a whole lot more let let them come up with um and we could do a September and a December poll and Cheryl I see that you have a hand raised so um go ahead you're recognized I was just going to say I think that the office of elections you know maybe we could go for Tuesday's end or Thursdays to give a little more flexibility for the office of elections and then plan for maybe a little bit before the meeting that Donald spoke of um but give us some give us options that work for the office of elections yeah sure um uh I think that's good um so so as far as guidance goes if you guys agree let's do Tuesdays and Thursdays in September and December and um Anthony we ought to be able to get a meeting together at least once during those months yes okay excellent work all right any other um comments on meetings okay we finished that we're down to item nine which is adjournment um do I have a motion to adjourn Ka K moves to adjourn I have a motion to adjourn do I have a second this is Cheryl I second it Cheryl seconds all in favor signify by saying I I I I thank you everyone thank you everyone good me h uhuh thank you