From: Members of the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland
To: Members of the Maryland General Assembly
Contact: Ronza Othman, President
National Federation of the Blind of Maryland
15 Charles Plaza, #3002
Baltimore, MD 21201
Phone: 443-426-4110
Email: President@nfbmd.org
Date: January 22, 2026
THE PROBLEM
The current absentee ballot return process in Maryland is a paper-based system that discriminates against blind voters and those with other print disabilities. Maryland’s system strips these voters of their right to vote privately and independently and has the impact of disenfranchising voters.
PROPOSED ACTION
The Maryland General Assembly must pass legislation that requires the Maryland State Board of Elections (SBE) to establish an accessible telephone voting process for voters with disabilities for use by the 2028 primary election.
BACKGROUND
Maryland voters have many choices when casting their ballots. They may vote in person or by mail. Voters may submit a permanent request so that they automatically receive an absentee ballot for each election. After the ballot is submitted, the election officials can inform the voter that their ballot was received by the Board of Elections in several ways. The voter selects a method of contact and can even be notified by text message. While these technological advances have improved the voting process, more needs to be done to ensure that all voices are heard. For example, the state of Maryland lacks an accessible electronic ballot return system, requiring blind and low-vision voters and those with print disabilities to get assistance printing, signing and certifying, and mailing in or dropping off their ballots. As a result, the voter’s privacy and independence are compromised, meaning others see the voter’s choices and can even alter the voter’s selections without their knowledge.
People with print disabilities must return their ballots at the cost of losing privacy and ballot secrecy. The ballots can be marked online but must be printed and signed before they can be sent by mail or dropped in a ballot box. Many people who are blind or who have print disabilities have no access to a printer, so they must have someone else print their ballot. They also require assistance from another person in locating where to sign their ballot and preparing it for delivery by mail or by drop box. Those who assist them are able to see – and even alter – their choices, which is inconsistent with voter privacy and independence principles and compromises the security of these voters’ ballots.
Thirteen states currently have paperless ballot return systems in place for voters with disabilities, including Alaska, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, North Carolina, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Utah, and West Virginia. In addition, 33 states and territories offer paperless ballot return for military and overseas voters, including Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virgin Islands, Washington, and West Virginia.
The method proposed in this legislation would rely on automated phone systems to capture the Maryland voter’s choices. This system is quite simple, secure, and accessible:
- A Maryland voter who is blind or otherwise print disabled would request a telephone ballot from SBE and attest to having a print disability such as blindness.
- SBE would verify the voter’s eligibility to vote and work with the voter to establish credentials to access the telephone ballot.
- When the voting window opens, the blind or print disabled voter would call the designated phone number and authenticate themselves. The automated system would pull up the voter’s ballot and walk them through each contest, reading candidate names and allowing the voter to make their choices by selecting the corresponding candidate/option number on a touch-tone phone.
- Once all contests have been read/voted, the system will reread the voter’s selections to confirm that it captured the correct choices.
- The system would take a voice print (or other method acceptable by SBE) to verify the voter’s certification in lieu of signature.
- The ballot would be stored in an air-gapped and otherwise non-internet connected database, the ballot printed and transcribed to a scannable ballot in the same way as all other absentee ballots.
- The transcribed ballot would then be canvassed like all other ballots.
Because the telephone voting method does not use the internet to transmit the ballot, there are no internet security concerns. Moreover, ballots would not be vulnerable to election interference to scale. Essentially, the burden of printing the ballot would be shifted from voters with disabilities who cannot independently and privately handle paper, to the boards of election.
In the current state of mandated paper ballot return, voters with disabilities who cannot, without assistance, read, sign, certify, or submit a paper ballot due to their disabilities are themselves vulnerable to having their ballots changed without their knowledge or consent; consequently, forcing people with disabilities to vote by paper creates the very security vulnerability that opponents argue is the obstacle to implementing such a system. In fact, telephone voting is far more secure for voters with disabilities than paper ballots because safeguards will be in place to prevent outside interference with those ballots and these individuals will be able to cast their ballots privately, securely, and independently.
CONCLUSION
In order to ensure that voters with disabilities have access to a private, independent, and secure ballot, the Maryland General Assembly must pass legislation directing the Maryland State Board of Elections to establish an accessible telephone absentee voting system for use by the 2028 primary election. This will remedy the lack of privacy and independence that such voters face when using the paper-based absentee voting process. It will also resolve the lack of security that these voters face due to the number of hands and eyes to which their ballots are exposed during the printing, signature and certification, and submission process. Maryland cannot stand by and wait for others to create technology solutions while simple, long-standing, and reliable low-tech solutions can be leveraged.