MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) – Voters in northern New England can now cast ballots by telephone in in a new system designed to let disabled and visually impaired people vote privately.

In Tuesday’s primary, 54 Vermonters voted over the phone. By employing the new system Vermont complies with a federal law that requires states to make polling places more accessible.

“We are pleased with the results,” Secretary of State Deborah Markowitz said Tuesday of the $525,000 system. “Every polling place in every state has to provide a way for people with disabilities to vote privately and independently. The beauty of this system is that almost everyone is comfortable with using a phone. Even if somebody can’t lift a pen or see a ballot, they are still likely able to use the phone.”

A telephone and phone line is set up at nearly 300 polling stations around the state. Voters enter their choices on a telephone keypad. The information is sent to the Secretary of State’s elections center where a paper ballot is printed and dropped by state workers into a ballot box.

“Having a paper trail is one of the main benefits of this system,” Markowitz said. Most computer touch-screen systems lack paper documentation which critics say could lead to voter fraud.

Five other states, including New Hampshire and Maine, are using the new system.

Markowitz cast her own ballot by phone on Tuesday and said it took about four minutes.

“It was really easy and I could see what a great convenience it would be for people who may be voting independently for the first time,” she said.

Elections officials plan to promote the new system to the estimated 3,000 to 10,000 disabled and visually-impaired voters before the Nov. 7 general election.