From an article at Nextgov magazine by Kate Elizabeth Queram. It is much suggested reading, so take a look:
Websites for the New York state Board of Elections and the Department of Motor Vehicles must become accessible to blind voters by the end of the year under the terms of a lawsuit settlement reached this month.
The lawsuit, filed in 2016, alleged that two blind plaintiffs had tried repeatedly to register to vote online but found that websites for both the board of elections and the DMV were not compatible with screen-reader software, an assistive technology that reads webpages out loud to help blind users navigate online.
The software could not read several downloadable and fillable forms on the sites, including a section on political party affiliation. The only way for blind users to complete that form was to print it and have someone help them sign it, which the plaintiffs argued was a violation of privacy that also represented a loss of independence.
Full article found at Nextgov. As covered on Democracy Chronicles, many unexpected factors can affect voter access for disabled citizens. Research has shown that voter turnout even among the general population can be affected by things like wind speed, bad weather forecasts and rain. Imagine how much more of a barrier things like bad weather can be for the disabled and you get an idea of why new thinking is required to fix this issue.
This type of research is highlighted in our Election Science archives as well as other important research in political science as it relates to democracy, the ultimate invention in political science. Be sure to also check out our Election Technology section and our articles on Technology Dissidents, the Internet and Voting or Voting Machines.
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