EAC - Voluntary Voting System Guidelines

Name : | Ian S. Piper
Organization : | Diebold Election Systems, Inc.
Post Date : | 9/29/2005
Section Comments
Section : | 2.2.7.2.2.6
Page no. : | 2-22
Line no.: | 1
Comment : | For this requirement, there are many issues of feasibility and usability that require more thought and supporting research to identify how to address those concerns. It may be easy to state that an automated reader can be used to convert the text on the paper to an audio output, but that will only help for those languages that are supported by common text to speech readers. There are concerns that graphical languages, such as Cantonese can not be so easily accommodated. And what would be used for those alternative languages that have no written text? In that case, the VVPAT printout would be in English, but how is a text to speech reader able to take English text and convert it to that alternative language. The use of barcodes on the VVPAT might be able to accommodate language flags, however, verification by the voter of the contents of barcodes with these flags may not be feasible. For verifying the VVPAT with audio, there are usability concerns. If the text to speech reader is to be a separate independent system, then the voter must transfer their headset to that independent system. Considering general memory retention capabilities, verifying anything but a short ballot, would involve transferring the headset back and forth between the voting device and the independent verification system. This requirement is a good idea, and one day there may be a solution that is practical, usable and cost effective, but there needs to be more supporting research in this area before it is made into a "shall". Currently, instituting a requirement similar to this would disenfranchise voters, who today can verify their selection through the existing audio capability of voting systems. Based on an October 2003 opinion by the Department of Justice, that voting system audio capability meets the accessibility requirements of HAVA. Proposed change: In the second sentence, replace the "shall" with a "should".