Wednesday could be a crucial day for Maine’s approaching decision on what sort of voting machines it should have. A work session is scheduled for LD 1026, An Act to Provide Uniform Voter Verification and Recount Requirements for Voting Machines.

The Legislature enacted a similar bill last year, but it contained a loophole. Advocates for the handicapped feared that insistence on a voter-verifiable paper trail, to permit recounts in cases of challenge, would interfere with demands that the new machines permit unassisted access by the sight-impaired and other handicapped persons. So last year’s bill included an exemption from the paper-trail requirement for the machines specially designed for use by the handicapped.

The situation now is changed. Machines have been developed that provide both features, a verifiable paper trail and handicapped access. One example, called AutoMARK, is marketed by one of the major voting machine companies, Election Systems and Software. Others are in the works. So the Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee should feel confident in going forward with a bill that would require both features in all machines.

Here is how the AutoMARK works: Any voter entering a polling place picks up a paper ballot. Most voters will mark their ballots with a pen in the usual way. A sight-impaired person can take advantage of a zoom feature that enlarges the ballot or an audio function enabling him or her to listen to the choices. A person unable to use his or her hands can use a puff tube to register ballot choices. The ballots all would go to a scanner, as in the current system, with the paper ballots retained for use if necessary in a recount.

Rep. Hannah Pingree, D-North Haven, believes that reservations voiced earlier have now been answered. For example, although there have been threats of lawsuits by a national disability organization, other groups disagree and the grounds for suing seem to be disappearing. However, the Iris Network, Maine’s principal advocacy group for the blind and sight-impaired, remains opposed to the bill, President Steven Obremski said through a spokesman.

Since machines suitable for the handicapped must be purchased by Jan. 1, 2006, it makes sense for Maine to buy machines that provide both a paper trail and handicapped access. That’s what LD 1026 would require. The bill deserves a sympathetic hearing to protect the voting rights of all Maine citizens.