Accessible Voting Technology Initiative Designing Accessible Elections

Although voting is a basic part of participating in a democracy, many people, including those with disabilities, face a variety of barriers to casting their ballot privately and independently.

Our goal is to discover new solutions that will make the entire voting process – from registering to vote to casting a ballot – accessible for every citizen.

In the first phase of this 3-year project, we will start by researching the current challenges for accessible elections. Our consortium partners will research the barriers to participation, review current election technologies, identify innovative assistive technologies, and gather other requirements from working directly with people with disabilities and advocacy organizations.

As we explore new solutions, we will hold design workshops, collaborate with university faculty and students, and host an open innovation challenge that invites new ideas from engineers, designers, technologists and advocates in an open forum.

In the spring of 2012, we will issue a call for proposals and award research grants to develop promising concepts that have a significant potential to improve the accessibility of elections.