EAC - Voluntary Voting System Guidelines

Name : | Diane Golden
Organization : | Association of Assistive Technology Act Programs
Post Date : | 8/10/2005
Section Comments
Section : | 2.2.7.1
Page no. : |
Line no.: |
Comment : | There continue to be three major barriers to accessibility posed by the current draft of the VVSG which seem to compromise delivery of independent and secret voting by individuals with disabilities. 1) Equal access to paper ballots is not ensured for voters with all types of vision disabilities (both blindness and low vision) when paper ballots are used as an official vote record. 2) Equal access is not ensured for voters with motor disabilities when the voting process includes submitting a paper ballot that is an official vote record. 3) Privacy is not ensured for voters who use large print output on paper ballots used as an official vote record. The attached document provides further explanation of these barriers and suggested revised language. Unless these issues are addressed, the current version of the VVSG actually provides a lesser level of accessibility than does the FEC 2002 standards. The FEC 2002 access standards apply only to direct recording electronic (DRE) voting systems, which by definition have an electronic vote as the official voter record. The electronic vote record (and no associated paper vote record) of a DRE system under the FEC 2002 standards provides a pretty broad level of accessibility to voters with a wide range of disabilities. Once a paper ballot (which is or can be the official vote of record) is added into the voting process of a DRE or used as the sole official ballot as in the case of ballot marking devices, the FEC 2002 provided level of accessibility is reduced unless access standards ensure accessibility of the paper ballot.
Attach file : | ATAP Comments to EAC 7-05b.doc