Association of Assistive Technology Act Programs (ATAP)

Vote by Phone Accessibility Summary

The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) requires one accessible voting machine per polling place. To make voting accessible for a reasonable range of individuals with disabilities (vision, motor, hearing, combination of vision and hearing, and learning/cognitive) augmented and alternative options must be available to enable voters with disabilities to ---

 receive ballot information     mark the ballot     review the marked ballot     and cast any official ballot

The term “augmented” means that the media/form is enhanced to enable access, e.g. standard print is enlarged or regular volume is amplified. The term “alternative” means the media/form is converted from something inaccessible for individuals with certain types of disabilities to something accessible. Examples would be converting print to speech for individuals who are blind and converting manual markings (by pencil/pen) to markings generated using switch input, software, and electronic marking for individuals with motor disabilities.

The following specific standards ensure appropriate augmented and alternative access is available to a reasonable range of voters with disabilities. The Federal Election Commission (FEC) Voting System Standards of 2002 and the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (VVSG) of 2005 requirements are referenced. Specific conformance of a Vote by Phone system to these access standards is described in detail.

BALLOT OUTPUT All ballot information, initial interaction with the ballot and any ballot review of a marked ballot, must make available:

	Disabilities Addressed	Standards References	Vote by Phone Conformance
Standard print and large print with good contrast (figure/ground) and spacing	Vision Learning Cognitive	FEC 2.2.7.2 (e) VVSG 3.2.2.1 (b-d) VVSG 3.1.5 (d-i) VVSG 3.1.7 VVSG 3.1.5. (e)	No large print output is available unless election officials create separate hard copy large print ballots or electronic enlarging is made available on-site. If a large print hard copy ballot cannot be counted by machine, it will be difficult to ensure a private and secret vote as the large print makes that ballot readily identifiable.
Speech (audio output) that is synchronized with both the visual display (large print/regular) and the tactile input.	Vision Learning Cognitive	FEC 2.2.7.2 (b-d) VVSG 3.2.2.1 (f) VVSG 3.2.2.2 (b-c)	Speech output is not synchronized with any print media as none is used. If hard copy large print ballots or electronic enlarging is used, they are separate and will not be synchronized with the speech output of the audio ballot. Speech output is synchronized with tactile input.
Speech (audio output) that allows the voter to repeat, pause/resume, skip to next or return to previous, skip referendum, adjust speech rate speech from 75-200% of normal.	Vision Learning Cognitive	FEC 2.2.7.2 (b) VVSG 3.2.2.2 (b-c)	While all of these features may or may not be present in a particular vote by phone system, such features could be incorporated into the audio file programming.
Speech (audio output) that has good intelligibility, with set initial and maximum volume, automatic volume reset to initial level, and prescribed frequency response to ensure speech intelligibility.	Vision Vision & hearing Learning Cognitive	FEC 2.2.7.2 (b) VVSG 3.2.2.2 (b-c) VVSG 3.1.5 (b-c)	Speech output is delivered via commercial telephone end-unit. Ensuring output conforms to prescribed frequency response and volume requirement is difficult to verify unless done for each end-unit deployed. Automatic default of volume is not available via software,- will have to rely on hardware option of phone and poll workers.

BALLOT INPUT - All ballot manipulation, navigation/control, and marking must be available through:

	Disabilities Addressed	Standards References	Vote by Phone Conformance
Standard tactile controls and large buttons and controls identifiable by shape and color available for use with visual display output and audio output	Vision Mobility	FEC 2.2.7.2 (f) VVSG 3.2.2.1 (e) VVSG 3.2.2.2 (b-g) VVSG 3.2.3 b	Ballot manipulation, navigation of ballot contents, and ballot marking must all be done using ten-key pad of telephone. Controls are not distinguishable by shape and color. Only audio output is available with ten-key pad input. No visual display options are available.
Switch input used to control/navigate ballot information and mark ballot available for use with visual display output	Mobility	VVSG 3.2.3 (d)	No switch input is available to control and navigate through the ballot and to mark the ballot. Some switch controls are available for adaptive telephone end units, but none will allow for switch control of the keypad input once the phone line is connected.
Controls are operable by an individual who is in a fixed seated position and one who has one hand (visual output)	Mobility	FEC 2.2.7.1 FEC 2.2.7.2 (f) VVSG 3.2.3 (b) VVSG 3.2.4	Ten-key pad of phone is movable to be operable from a variety of positions. Ten key-pad input provides less accessibility than do other input options using fewer, larger, simpler to operate buttons/controls.
Mechanism for write in of text using tactile controls/buttons and review of write in available	Vision Mobility	FEC 2.2.7.2 (b) 3.2.2.2 (b)	Write in can be done using ten-key pad input. Review will only be available in audio output since no visual review of the ballot is available.

BALLOT CASTING - Ballot casting (including review of any VVPAT) must be available through:

	Disabilities Addressed	Standards References	Vote by Phone Conformance
Some form of automatic or “hands-free” mechanism	Vision Mobility	VVSG 3.2.3 (e) VVSG 3.2.2.2 (e)	No paper handling is needed since the paper ballot is at a central printing location and is never handled by the voter.
Accessible review mechanisms for VVPAT or official paper ballot before cast	Vision Mobility	VVSG 7.9.7	Review is audio only of bar code rather than ballot text. To unify vote counting, the printed ballot text may be hand converted into another ballot form in which case the voter did not verify the ballot content that will be counted.

Summary

To meet the HAVA requirement of one accessible voting machine per polling place, the Department of Justice opined several times (e.g. letter to Texas, 5/20/03, letter to Mississippi, 3/4/05) that the FEC and VVSG standards can be used to “determine the accessibility of voting machines”. As a result, purchasing and deploying voting systems that conform to FEC 2002 or VVSG 2005 access standards would be one defendable way to meet HAVA requirements. At this time, Vote by Phone systems have not been certified as meeting any set of accepted access standards and it is unknown if such systems would withstand a legal challenge to meeting the HAVA requirements for an accessible voting machine.

In general, the accessibility limitations of a vote by phone system can be summarized as follows:

For individuals who are visually impaired and need large print output (with or without an option of synchronized audio output) and need marking available via large print or tactile input, a vote by phone system offers no accessibility.

For individuals who have learning/cognitive disabilities and need large or regular print output (with or without an option of synchronized audio output) and marking via large or regular print or tactile input, a vote by phone system offers no accessibility.

For individuals with vision loss and hearing difficulties who use the audio ballot, a vote by phone system will only be as good as the amplified phone options deployed. Vote by phone systems do not have a standardized end unit phone and as a result control of the audio output is limited. It is critical for the phone to have appropriate volume control features and frequency response adjustments necessary to ensure speech intelligibility. Procedures must be put in place to protect voters from “inheriting” the volume of previous voters, which could cause hearing damage and liability risks for local jurisdictions.

For individuals with motor disabilities who need alternatives to a ten-key pad input option (such as switch input) or who need tactile input with visual display (instead of speech only output) a vote by phone system offers no accessibility.

For individuals with all types of disabilities who use the system, the review of the official paper ballot is an audio only review of a bar code. HAVA requires voters to be able to review their ballots before they are cast and counted. If the bar code is not used to count the vote of that ballot, the voter is not verifying what is counted.

Summary based on observation and demonstration of the IVS Vote-by-Phone system - November 21, 2005

Diane Cordry Golden, Ph.D.

Association of Assistive Technology Act Programs

dianegolden@sbcglobal.net

Under contract with:

National Disability Rights Network