Accessible Voting Without Computers
A Brief History of The Vote-PAD Company
The Vote-PAD owes its existence to the generous participation of many people, whose primary interest was the development of a low-tech, inexpensive method of providing independent voting to people with disabilities. These people, in varying degrees, gave their time, ingenuity, feedback, knowledge, and sometimes money to support this project. We gratefully acknowledge their contributions.
Unlike most companies, The Vote-PAD Company came into being organically. County and Town leaders’ dismay at the high-cost of electronic equipment; a nationally growing concern about the flaws inherent in electronic voting; the inaccessibility and unreliability of most of the current election technology; the dedication and energy of voting integrity activists; and the looming HAVA deadline — all combined to provide a fertile culture in which the Vote-PAD was conceived and matured without a structured plan to guide its growth.
Its origins notwithstanding, The Vote-PAD Company now has a viable product, a feasible production plan, and a potentially huge market.
We have designed, tested, refined, and documented the Vote-PAD. We have publicized it from one coast to the other, and it is being considered for approval in several states. We have researched manufacturing options and costs and have developed a complete package that is affordable and can be delivered within the time constraints. We have demonstrated that the Vote-PAD is accessible to individuals with most types of disabilities, significantly less expensive than any high-technology device, and compatible with any paper-based system.
We are offering a superior product, recognized as such by and those who see it — activists, individuals with disabilities, and officials.
The Participants
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.
Over the subsequent year, VotersUnite.Org became a central source for information and networking among activists. The impeccable research and dedication to information-sharing on all levels earned the organization a citation in the recent Government Accountability Office report on electronic voting systems, in which the GAO refers to VotersUnite.Org as an information clearinghouse. No other organization, governmental or non-governmental, was placed in that category.
In the summer of 2005, with input and encouragement from other concerned citizens, including some from the disabilities community, she designed the Vote-PAD to provide a low-cost, affordable method of providing independent voting to people with disabilities.
Heleni Thayre is a long-time advocate of paper ballots. She saw the Vote-PAD as a way of encouraging the use and retention of paper ballot in elections while at the same time filling a void in accessibility options, which had been a concern to her, especially options for voters with movement impairments. She began testing the first of a number of successive prototypes in August.
Her work with testers at the Boston Center for Independent Living and the American Council of the Blind of New York has proven that the Vote-PAD does provide independent and private voting for people with disabilities. Carefully tracking the comments and suggestions of those who generously agreed to test the Vote-PAD, Heleni has used every criticism or problem that the testers encountered as an impetus to brainstorm design improvements. She is working with activists in other states who want to show the Vote-PAD to their state and local officials.
Dianna Smith has recently begun demonstrating the Vote-PAD to interested officials. In the first week of her participation, she met with state officials in both Wisconsin and Minnesota and presented the Vote-PAD to a group of very receptive county and municipal clerks in Barron County, Wisconsin.
Patent Pending
Copyright (c) 2005, 2006 Vote-PAD, Inc.
http://www.vote-pad.us/aboutus.asp
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