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Thread: your thoughts on voting and its accessibility
Number of posts in this thread: 6 (In chronological order)
From: Julius Charles Serrano
Date: Sun, Sep 08 2013 8:34PM
Subject: your thoughts on voting and its accessibility
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Hi everyone.
I just want to get your thoughts on voting and its accessibility,
particularly in terms of the following points:
1. I have talked to a handful of blind people and they prefer an online
voting system because it lets them vote independently and privately.
What are your thoughts on this?
2. A counter-statement to this is that although an online voting system
would increase the general accessibility of elections to some people,
the security of the voting system itself would always be a concern,
generally because it is on the Internet. Your thoughts?
3. Apart from online voting, what do you think are other possible
options that would make voting more accessible to blind people and
people with other types of disabilities?
Thanks very much for reading this and for any comment you may have.
Julius
From: Walt Stover
Date: Mon, Sep 09 2013 1:52AM
Subject: Re: your thoughts on voting and its accessibility
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There is a machine called Auto Mark that people that are blind can use
to vote. The biggest problem with types of machines is that no one
knows how to set them up or what to do if they are not working
properly. When they are working right they work very well and you can
cast your own vote without help for someone else. It seems to me that
there would be real issues of security in using an on line vote and
some people may not have access to a computer so they would have to go
to say a library.
Walt Stover
On 9/8/13, Julius Charles Serrano < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> Hi everyone.
>
> I just want to get your thoughts on voting and its accessibility,
> particularly in terms of the following points:
>
> 1. I have talked to a handful of blind people and they prefer an online
> voting system because it lets them vote independently and privately.
> What are your thoughts on this?
> 2. A counter-statement to this is that although an online voting system
> would increase the general accessibility of elections to some people,
> the security of the voting system itself would always be a concern,
> generally because it is on the Internet. Your thoughts?
> 3. Apart from online voting, what do you think are other possible
> options that would make voting more accessible to blind people and
> people with other types of disabilities?
>
> Thanks very much for reading this and for any comment you may have.
>
> Julius
>
>
>
> > > >
From: Alastair Campbell
Date: Mon, Sep 09 2013 2:37AM
Subject: Re: your thoughts on voting and its accessibility
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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
From: Whitney Quesenbery
Date: Mon, Sep 09 2013 5:49AM
Subject: Re: your thoughts on voting and its accessibility
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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 ADDRESS 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/
From: deborah.kaplan@suberic.net
Date: Mon, Sep 09 2013 10:14AM
Subject: Re: your thoughts on voting and its accessibility
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On Mon, 9 Sep 2013, Whitney Quesenbery wrote:
> 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.
Indeed. I only need the AutoMark machine about half the times
that I vote, but it wasn't until I started asking for it every
time that my precinct finally learned how to set the darn thing
up so that it was always turned on when I got there. Now I just
ask for it every time as a matter of course.
Web voting has huge security implications, but then with so many
states not requiring a paper trail for in-booth electronic
voting, traditional voting also has huge security implications.
There are plenty of videos online of people trivially hacking the
modern Diebold machines. Web voting seems like it could be made
at least that secure..
We would just need to make sure that the secure online voting
tools do not prohibit the use of people's accessibility software
that they have installed. (And there would have to be traditional
voting for people who don't have web access, of course.)
Deborah Kaplan
Accessibility Team Co-Lead
Dreamwidth Studios LLC
From: Julius Charles Serrano
Date: Tue, Sep 10 2013 2:03PM
Subject: Re: your thoughts on voting and its accessibility
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Thank you all very much for sending your thoughts and for the resources
you shared.
These are all very helpful. I realize that there are more things to look
into when considering accessibility in voting systems.
Regards.
Julius