{"id":40371,"date":"2020-02-14T17:38:20","date_gmt":"2020-02-14T23:38:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/?p=40371"},"modified":"2020-02-14T18:31:37","modified_gmt":"2020-02-15T00:31:37","slug":"harris-county-unveils-new-polling-technology-for-non-english-speakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2020\/02\/14\/harris-county-unveils-new-polling-technology-for-non-english-speakers\/","title":{"rendered":"Harris County Unveils New Polling Technology For Non-English Speakers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Harris County Unveils New Polling Technology For Non-English Speakers<\/strong><\/p>\n

The technology will allow voters to communicate with interpreters in 34 languages via video chat.<\/strong><\/p>\n

MATT HARAB<\/p>\n

POSTED ONFEBRUARY 14, 2020<\/p>\n

A new piece of technology in Harris County polling places will make it easier for non-English speakers to vote.<\/p>\n

The county\u2019s new multi-lingual virtual poll worker system, or MVP, is coming to Harris County polling locations on Tuesday just in time for early voting. The technology will connect voters who do not speak English with interpreters that can assist in 34 languages, Harris County Clerk Diane Trautman said Friday.<\/p>\n

By law, the county is only required to provide English, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Chinese options at the poll. Many polling locations around the county are already filled with bilingual staff, but this new technology will help speed up the voting process, Trautman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have so many other languages in Harris County, we are a very diverse county,\u201d Trautman said. \u201cThis will allow all those languages to be heard.\u201d<\/p>\n

MVP will also accommodate American Sign Language, Trautman added.<\/p>\n

Using the system, voters experiencing a language barrier at the polls can call a staff member over to their voting booth. At that point, the voter can simply request an interpreter, and that staff member will facilitate a video call with an interpreter, to answer the voter\u2019s questions.<\/p>\n

The system is adopted from existing hardware that has reached the end of their usefulness as electronic pollbooks. Previously, those books allowed election officials to review and maintain voter registration, Trautman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we tried to do is find a way to re-purpose the e-poll books for another program,\u201d she said. \u201cThis program became available, and we think this will be a feasible way to use the pollbooks that have reached end of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The county will implement a trial of the system at all 52 early voting technology across the county on Tuesday. The technology is currently only being used in Texas and California, Trautman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith this innovative technology, interpreters can communicate with the voter and poll worker in real time with a video chat to make the voting process easier and more accessible,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

SOURCE: https:\/\/www.houstonpublicmedia.org\/articles\/news\/harris-county\/2020\/02\/14\/360756\/harris-county-unveils-new-polling-technology\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Note: It did not mention on article…. Thanks to Houston Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities and Houston Commission on Disabilities. Deaf Community Leaders, including the Houston Resource Specialists and other organizations. Harris County Clerk’s Office, Diane Trautman heard our voices.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Harris County Unveils New Polling Technology For Non-English Speakers The technology will allow voters to communicate with interpreters in 34 languages via video chat. MATT HARAB POSTED ONFEBRUARY 14, 2020 A new piece of technology in Harris County polling places…<\/p>\n

Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[1629,4621,23,3772,20,40,26739,103],"class_list":["post-40371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deaf-news","tag-american-sign-language","tag-article","tag-asl","tag-harris-county","tag-houston","tag-interpreter","tag-matt-harab","tag-vri"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p752R-av9","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":532,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2006\/10\/06\/sign-language-interpreter-for-voting-lubbock\/","url_meta":{"origin":40371,"position":0},"title":"Sign Language Interpreter for Voting – Lubbock","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"October 6, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"I am sending you an attachment (see below) regarding the availability of ASL (sign language) interpreters to assist voters who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing. Lubbock County is the only county to try the \u201cSuper-Precinct\u201d arrangement of polling places for the November election. This has cut the number of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/category\/deaf-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21567,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2013\/01\/24\/harris-county-9-1-1-emergency-systemp-i-p-2513\/","url_meta":{"origin":40371,"position":1},"title":"Harris County 9-1-1 Emergency System\/P.I.P. 2\/5\/13","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"January 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Harris County 9-1-1 Emergency System\/P.I.P. DATE: February 5, 2013 The February meeting for P.I.P. (Positive Interaction Program) between the Deaf community and H.P.D. police department will feature Ms. Sonya L. Clauson as guest speaker. She will be sharing with the Deaf community the progress of establishing the new 9-1-1 text\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/category\/deaf-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32555,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2015\/12\/17\/how-to-get-help-from-fema-for-asl-interpreter-benefits-etc-16-counties-in-texas\/","url_meta":{"origin":40371,"position":2},"title":"How to Get Help from FEMA for ASL interpreter, benefits, etc – 16 counties in Texas","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"December 17, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=qAU8-g75Q18&list=PL720Kw_OojlJQU-SiTwxW9cgzxGgeU8R4 Help from FEMA for Texans who had damage to their home and property during October floods.\u00a0 ASL interpreters also available upon request at the Disaster Recovery Centers. Help from FEMA for Texans who had damage to their home and property during October floods.\u00a0 ASL interpreters also available upon\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/category\/deaf-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/PL720Kw_OojlJQU-SiTwxW9cgzxGgeU8R4\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24845,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2013\/10\/02\/harris-county-cert-recognized-for-work-with-deaf-and-hard-of-hearing-community\/","url_meta":{"origin":40371,"position":3},"title":"Harris County CERT recognized for work with deaf and hard of hearing community","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"October 2, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Harris County CERT recognized for work with deaf and hard of hearing community September 25, 2013 By Community Reports The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recognized the Harris County Citizen Corps\u2019 deaf and hard of hearing Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program with an honorable mention in the 2013 Individual\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/category\/deaf-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9736,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2010\/03\/16\/community-outreach-request-for-interpreters-houston\/","url_meta":{"origin":40371,"position":4},"title":"Community Outreach Request for Interpreters – Houston","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"March 16, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Community Outreach Request for Interpreters - Houston Wanted: Qualified Interpreters who are willing and able to donate some time to a good cause. 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Food and drinks will be provided Must RSVP to Ovi and Don by August 23, 2009 at noon Email Jose\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/category\/deaf-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40371"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40371\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40385,"href":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40371\/revisions\/40385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}