WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: your thoughts on voting and its accessibility

for

From: Whitney Quesenbery
Date: Sep 9, 2013 5:49AM

Speaking for the US only.
There are separate laws governing accessibility of elections, and a
separate standard for voting systems, managed by the Election Assistance
Commission - http://www.eac.gov/

Although a popular system, the AutoMark is not the only accessible voting
system. For those who don't know it, it is a ballot marker, using the
interactive system to collect the voter's choices but producing a paper
ballot that can be cast with all other ballots.

One thing that any accessibility advocate can do is ask to use the
accessible system. When they sit unused, they don't get set up well, so
fewer people use them, so ... a vicious cycle. More people using them helps
break that cycle.

There are serious issues of security for any online system and they become
even more serious in elections, especially for returning marked ballots.
There are, however, many aspects of elections that can and should be
available with an online option: voter registration, requesting absentee
ballots, finding your polling place, checking wait times at polling places,
and receiving blank ballots to mark and return.

There are efforts in several states to extend MOVE Act requirements for
overseas and military voters to people with disabilities, making it easier
for them to receive and return their ballots if they vote absentee.

I recently testified at the Presidential Commission on Election
Administration. You can read my testimony here:
http://civicdesigning.org/featured-story/testifying-to-the-presidential-commission-on-election-administration-accessibility-as-a-driver-for-innovation/

I am also the grants coordinator for the Accessible Voting Technology
Initiative (http://elections.itif.org), funded by the EAC. We have a number
of really interesting research projects under way.

Whitney

Whitney


On Mon, Sep 9, 2013 at 4:37 AM, Alastair Campbell < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> It's a big question, bigger than accessibility in some ways.
>
> If you have online voting you would do so in general rather than
> accessibility specific reasons. Therefore if you have online voting you
> make that accessible. If you don't, then the machines (or at least one per
> location) need to be accessible in a walk-up-and-use fashion.
>
> Given Section 508, I assume it's an issue of implementing it well rather
> than having to make the argument for it?
>
> -Alastair
> > > >



--
Whitney Quesenbery
www.wqusability.com | @whitneyq

Storytelling for User Experience
www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/storytelling

Global UX: Design and research in a connected world
@globalUX | www.amazon.com/gp/product/012378591X/