Accessible Voting Without Computers - Ellen Theisen's Vote-PAD

[Wilms]

What do you think about this?



Ellen Theisen, owner and CEO of The Vote-PAD Company, has 22 years of experience as a software technical writer. In the summer of 2003, concerned with the severe dangers of trusting democracy to the competence and integrity of a few programmers and voting equipment designers, she became involved in the process of educating others about the problems inherent in electronic elections.

In April of 2004, she founded VotersUnite.Org and wrote "Myth Breakers for Election Officials," a compilation of fully-documented information intended to educate election officials and counter the prevalent misinformation about electronic voting. Voting-integrity advocates have delivered the booklet to thousands of legislators, local and state officials, and the press. "Myth Breakers" has become a staple in the voting integrity community, has been offered as testimony in several lawsuits related to election equipment, and has been quoted by state legislators in their advocacy for legislation requiring voter-verified paper audit trails.


The Voting-on-Paper Assistive Device (Vote-PAD) is an inexpensive, non-electronic, voter-assist alternative that helps most people with visual or dexterity impairments to vote independently.

The Vote-PAD can be used in any jurisdiction. It is customized to provide access to each precinct’s hand-counted or optically-scanned paper ballot. All jurisdictions must offer provisional ballots during federal elections, and many also provide paper ballot backups in case voting machines break down. It is particularly suited for jurisdictions that use hand-counted paper ballots.




The heart of the Vote-PAD is the transparent “ballot sleeve,” which encloses the ballot on both sides and reveals the content of the ballot that slips into it. The Vote-PAD is composed of one custom ballot sleeve for each sheet of a ballot. The sleeves are bound together between front and back opaque covers for privacy.

The poll worker slides the ballot into the ballot sleeve, aligns the holes in the sleeve with the marking positions on the ballot, clips the ballot into place, and sets the voter up with the Vote-PAD and audio player or Braille instructions. Using the page-turning aid, the voter easily turns pages.

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The voter puts on the headset and starts the audio instructions or begins reading the Braille instructions.

Following the instructions, which explain the correspondence of raised bumps with the candidate positions, the voter marks the choices beside the appropriate bumps.

A light-sensing wand allows voters with visual impairments to review their selections. As they replay the audio tape, or re-read the Braille instructions, they point the wand at each candidate location to receive audible feedback indicating whether or not the location is marked.

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An opaque, sliding “privacy shield” sits in a pocket inside the front cover and slides part-way out to conceal the ballot as it is being deposited in a ballot box or precinct scanner. If the voter needs help to deposit the ballot, the poll worker can assist, sliding the privacy shield out with the ballot to cover the ballot and protect the secrecy of the voter’s votes.


http://www.vote-pad.us/vote-pad-use.asp

http://www.vote-pad.us

[shance]

1. Brilliant!!

Kudos to Ellen, who has been such an asset in the election reform movement.

This is great work.

[Wilms]

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[Wilms]

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