I am not sure if my thought has already been address in the vast range of concepts that I read through:
For a successful participation in elections I think that it is necessary
1. to understand why it is important to vote.
2. have access to objective information to understand the choices
3. know where and how to vote.

All 3 points need to be included in a concept and address the different (target) groups with their specific needs.

Looking forward to your feedback ...

I'm a security researcher and a pollworker, but a novice when it comes to accessibility. What would be helpful to me as a pollworker is guidance on how to use the technology I have effectively. For example, in my locality we have both DREs (touchscreen voting systems) and optical scan (paper). Depending on the voter's abilities, one or the other may be easier for them to use - if they don't know, what questions can I (or may I legally) ask them to help? As an example, I had a voter at the last election who had never been able to cast a vote because of cognitive issues in understanding how to use a touchscreen - and no one had ever offered him a paper ballot as an option! And no one had explained to his mother that she could assist him if she signed a simple form, but that she had to mark his selections and not her own!

It's not realistic to say "get 4 hours of training", because the entire training for a pollworker for all activities combined is 2 hours.

Obviously the guidance will differ somewhat from one state to another (due to differing laws) and depending on the type of equipment in use, but a "cheat sheet" would be helpful. Pollworkers are largely untrained volunteers (or poorly paid) and older than the average American, so solutions that they can use to help with the technology we have today could have an immediate impact, until such time as better solutions are available.

Ciao a tutti, sono italiano e, pertanto, non conosco a fondo la legge degli Stati Uniti, perciò, mi affido a voi che avete lanciato la discussione.

Sono nuovo di openideo e non ne conosco ancora le finalità, però penso che la discussione sull'incapacità della società civile di dare accesso al voto ai disabili è una cosa dovuta dal momento che si fanno le leggi ma non si applicano.
Non si tratta solo di mezzi ma anche di cultura.
La legge dice che tutti hanno diritto a esprimere il proprio voto ma non definisce le metodologie per l'accesso da parte dei disabili e di chi, per altri motivi, ha difficoltà ad accedervi, e questo è un fatto gravissimo e denota una cultura ancora poco attenta ai problemi di tante persone.

Cosa si può fare per ovviare a questa "disattenzione" dei legislatori?
Come qualcuno ha sostenuto, si potrebbe usare la tecnologia. Vero, ma da sola non basta perché non tutti hanno accesso ad internet. Pertanto, nell'attesa che internet sia accessibile a tutti, l'unica soluzione è quella di andare direttamente nelle case di coloro che sono impediti a recarsi ai seggi. Per fare ciò ci sono due modi: o si distribuiscono le schede prima del giorno delle elezioni e poi si passa a prenderle, o si va nelle case il giorno prestabilito si consegna la scheda, si spiega il funzionamento e si attende il voto.
Un'altro modo potrebbe essere quello della posta. Si manda la scheda per posta, il cittadino vota e rispedisce la scheda; c'è però il difetto che potrebbe volerci molto più tempo.

Dear Ashley and Meana , its indeed a challenge in need.

However, i am disappointed to notice that the brief refers to people with moblity or other limitations as "disabled" and not "differently- abled".

There has been ongoing debate on how to make the systems inclusive for people with varied 'disabilities'. The biggest challenge has been to remove the stigma associated with being 'disabled'.(with ref to book INCLUSIVE DESIGN -DESIGN FOR WHOLE POPULATION )
 Also, the book states that it is wrong to call a person handicaped, as he/she is handicapped by the design of environment around him, whereas he/she might be differently abeled. A lot of products designed and developed for disabled are not adopted/used by them due to social stigma associated with using a product as it designed for someone who is "disabled"." (ref -INCLUSIVE DESIGN -DESIGN FOR WHOLE POPULATION )
In order to arrive at inclusive solutions, it requires a mind-shift , we/ society(normal people) need to look at people with so called 'disabilities' at the same platform like any one of us.
For example a person with vision impairment might /or most likely would have highly developed sound senses than any normal person and is differently abled and not disabled.

Kindly do not misunderstand my nitpicking (if i come across as that ) i hope the open ideo team does not mind me bringing this up ,it is just an observation. I have been working very closely in last three with people who are differently abled, and have been involved in discussions around the subject. Inclusive design is one of my main area of work and i could not ignore the terminology here, it is considered an offense now to refer to a person as handicap or disabled in liu of latest debates and developments on the same.
Kindly check this link below -http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/111450.html,
Great going to all the inspirations and a very very challenging brief . Cheers !

 

I appreciate the diversity of inspiration classifications in terms of experiences, empathy, innovation etc. This gives everyone the opportunity to contribute from his own background be it geography, religion ability, etc. - result is inclusion.

I was just thinking the possibility of grouping inspirations on various electoral phases with one additional phase to cover cross cutting aspects.

Addendum to my last entry -- Allowing online voting will make it easier for handicap people (who rely on a wheel chair or powered chair for mobility) to be part of the voting process. These people often receive SSI_Disability from the Social Security Administration. People receiving benefits such as food stamps, general relief, welfare, etc... should be allowed to vote online free of charge; while the rest who are not economically_challenged will be accessed a $1 fee to vote online. With online voting, handicapped people can go to their nearest public library to cast their vote; or borrow a friend's or neighbor's online access to cast their vote. Because these economically challenged voters are often not tech_savvy with the internet, they need not have a Facebook or Gmail account. They need only to enter their social security number as their user_names and their date of birth as their passwords. For added security to confirm their identity, the next page will require them to enter the zip code shown on their statements from the government agency that sends their benefit statements ("Social Security Administration" or "County Social Welfare Office" for example).

I fail to understand why we can pay bills online, make purchases on Walmart, Amazon, Ebay, etc.... but CANNOT use this same technology to cast our votes. Every election, I have to take time off from my daily itinerary to cast my vote, and (unless it's a presidential election) come to my designated polling place to be reminded that Americans are idiots to complain of high taxes, not enough public services, a lousy government, etc... yet the same people who complain don't bother to vote. If $$ is an issue to setup voting online, I'd like to advice the same strategy the US Post Office had adopted; charging $1 to file a change-of-address online. If the post office can generate $$ from people moving to another residence, why can't the County Registrars Office adopt the same strategy to recoup the cost of setting up online voting? People choosing to vote online would pay $1 via Visa, MC, or Paypal. After payment, they would log-on using their Facebook or Gmail account. After casting their vote, an email would be sent to their Facebook or Gmail confirming their vote had been accepted, and what their voting choices were. The email confirmation would have a button to click; "Retract My Vote" to notify the Registrars Office someone may had hacked a voter's Facebook or Gmail account, and voter fraud had occurred using his/her hacked Facebook or Gmail account. I've had my Yahoo and Gmail accounts hacked before, which is why the option to "Retract My Vote" should be included to minimize voter fraud. The $1 payment fee will make it expensive for a hacker to jeopardize the online voting process. If the same Visa, MC, or Paypal account is used twice, the system will confirm both voters reside in the same IP_address and/or share the same registered mailing address to receive their financial statements.

I'm going to admit right up front that I've only looked at the first 20
or so comments here and that I've not read any other pages. Doubtless
my observations will have been made already, but I feel compelled to
make them in the event that they have not.

It's been my belief for a long time that the only true way to have a
universally accessible voting system is to fully compuerise it. This
way, you can provide multiple interfaces to the same system, based on
need. Instead of having different systems trying to address corner
cases which need to interoperate in such a way that doesn't compromise
the integrity of the person's vote, have one backend that takes care of
all of the security and privacy issues and provide as many different
interfaces to this system as you need or want. This way you could
provide (for example) online voting, telephone voting, in-person voting
with multiple languages etc, all connected to the same back-end.

Since we seem to be concentrating on the USA, however, I'm going to make
another point which I feel must be made. I don't feel you can achieve
true universal access to elections until the electoral system itself is
reformed. And by this I mean the establishment of an independent body
whose job it is to oversee and conduct elections. This is the only way
that you can insure that measures designed to promote equal access are
not tampered with or used for political advantage. One need only to
look at the fiasco that was the 2000 Presidential Elections,
particularly in Florida, to see the potential for this. For example, if
the idea of supplying picutres to aid identification is adopted and the
system is not depoliticised, there's a very real opportunity (for
example) for photos to be manipulated or substituted so as to bias a
voter toward or away from a particular candidate. Or for instance, if
it is determined that a particular disability group typically votes one
way, a person from the opposing party with influence may take steps to
make it difficult or impossible for them to vote.

I grew up in Australia, and while it's true that Australia's compulsory
voting system doesn't fit particularly well when looking at The United
States, it is worth looking at in terms of their efforts to make it as
easy as possible for people to vote and the steps they take to try and
keep the electoral process fair. They still need to do some work in the
accessibility area and probably in others, but they do have an
independent electoral commission and it is my belief that they do a
great job of running the elections fairly.

I am not personally aware of any other country that can be considered
democratic who has an electoral system so open to political
manipulation, and in my opinion this area is the number 1 issue facing
the United States election system, for a whole lot of other reasons not
related to access, but very much releated to the integrity of the vote.
But even relating to universal access, I don't see how it can be done
comprehensively and consistantly without a degree of independence from
the political parties.

I think this is a great brief, but wonder whether different solutions are needed for different countries, or whether one idea can be reached and then adapted. I am a student at business school and during my international political analysis class we are learning different frameworks for understanding how countries are organised. In terms of decision making, for instance, we split countries in to Pluralist (where governments are largely influenced through lobbying), Statist (where decisions are often in the hands of few decision makers at the top of government and therefore quick decisions can be made) and Corporatist (where decisions are more consensus orientated and associations traditionally need to get involved before decisions in government are made). This might be a useful framework once a solution is reached and when you are looking to implement it globally. Further to the implementation consideration, it might be worth grouping countries by those which are bureaucratic (ie. Scandinavia) and those which are relationship based (S.Europe, most of Asia) as this will affect the speed with which changes to the electoral system are implemented. Is this relevant do you think?

In the last U.S. presidential election, only 64% of eligible voters cast a ballot. If people with a lack of accessibility account for 10-20% of voters, then there are still 16-26% of eligible voters who just are not voting.

Why are these people not voting? How can we include them when considering accessibility? Can we make the voting process more fun and exciting as well as accessible?

I was excited see the GOOD magazine community issue a challenge to members to "snap you out of the selfish habits into which we all sometimes fall and [become] a great citizen" this month in partnership with the civic participation organization Guiding Lights (http://www.guidinglightsnetwork.com). Very timely!

Excited to see concepts shared here soon...

One thing that almost gets left out of this topic is the importance of the *secret* ballot, and how to maintain that with these other voting methods.

A voter *must* be able to cast a ballot without revealing to anyone else how they voted, or they can be threatened into voting a particular way, subject to sanctions for "not voting the right way," or they can sell their vote. It should be impossible for a voter to prove to a third party how they voted.

After you file your taxes the government should send you a voter ID and a mail-in ballot. The voter ID would allow you to vote online to save costs on processing mailed ballots, and anyone without an internet connection could use the mail-in ballot.

Why do people get introduced to elections at such late age? I'm not saying the age for voting should be lowered or anything, I'm saying that getting kid and teens involved or interested to contribute to politics at a younger age might inspire them to be more involved in the voting process later in life. I certainly wasn't jumping for joy and when I became old enough to vote. If voting appealed to younger audiences somehow the government might gain a more loyal group of voters in the long run.

Low voting is a matter of concern all around the Globe, as some people do not want to go to the polling station even though they are healthy enough to do so. At times people are out of station during election and are not able to caste their votes even if they want to. While going to a polling station is a major challenge for people with disability.
With the development of Information Technology, Electronic Voting (e-voting) should be introduced where voter can vote via means of Mobile Phone or Internet no matter which part or the Globe they are in. For this a Unique Voter ID should be provided along with a password. People with disability can also avail their voter right by self voting at home or ask their dear ones to caste on their behalf.
 This will not only improve the percentage of votes but will also help in bringing the best Politician to Power.

I think this is a great challenge. I am also new to OpenIDEO, so I don't have enough for an inspiration yet. However, one things that could be useful for voters who may have problems with the local language is to provide a photo of the candidate along with their name. For example, many ballots only provide the candidates name. Being a child of an immigrant parent, my mother will recognize a candidates face, but she have problems picking out the candidates name.

Really important issue! My mom has cortico basal ganglionik degeneration, so she can't walk, use her hands properly to write her name or sign. This year we had an election in Turkey and despite we had informed the municipality while registering to vote, she was given a voting room in the first floor at a school without any elevator or ramp. So we had to convince the cops to make her vote in the garden. They were hardly convinced and later on everyone saw what she was voting for. And some people commented on us helping her vote, as if we were misusing her right. It was such an annoying experience.
So i think there is a lot room for improvement for this issue.

It's really interesting to hear about the differences between countries and continents, interesting question, and a great way of getting such a range of views! (I've only recently joined OpenIDEO, so still getting used to the site concept)

I am just learning about this research (so don't have enough details to post as inspiration) but it seems that educator Angela Booker's work around youth civic action might be very applicable here given its focus on increasing political participation in the US: http://bit.ly/zN5TIr

I have to think security is a huge part of this issue. Not only increasing accessibility for people with disabilities, but also in ensuring that their votes are counted accurately.

I have a question. What about campaign, election manifesto of candidates? Are we assuming that people with disability are aware of the works and manifesto of the candidates? How are we communicating to them? That is also a big challenge.

How very timely. Voting is a system that definitely needs to be addressed and brought up to date, in so many ways. It is also great to see that those with disabilities are being directly considered as the lens for doing this improvement. I'm excited to see the outcomes!

It’s a good challenge to work on. For countries like India which is the largest democracy in the world and is one of the most diverse countries in the world and home of many languages, this challenge might solve many problems which occur during the elections. Incorporation of new technologies and communication tools while making them understandable to whole population will be a great challenge (e.g. making it understandable to illiterate population).
Good opportunity to learn whole election system and contribute in the challenge.

This is a great new challenge--incredibly timely and important. I hope that ideas, in addition to thinking about how to fully democratize the voting experience, also focus on how to improve security and mitigate the potential for voter fraud. Unfortunately, as new technologies are added to the voting experience, the opportunity for voter tampering increases.

Great challenge brief --very well written!

Great brief and great topic, it pushes me to look with different eyes at my country and the cities I have lived in! It's impressive how much the perspective can change! Can't wait to learn more and challenge myself to contribute!

The Idea described in the 17 Jan 2012 article found at: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21328476.500-bitcoin-online-currency-gets-new-job-in-web-security.html
 Would be a great technical back bone, it would even allow people to vote from home, and could eliminate voter fraud.

Great challenge !! Good opportunity for marrying accessibility issues with technology.

Sounds like fun!

Great challenge, I´ll try to bring my better thoughts on this, trying to forget problems that in my country we have, such infraestructure (roads) and acces to technologies or internet.

What a great opportunity to improve such a vital right in democracies worldwide. I hope the international experiences, inspirations and ideas from everyone will bring some great solutions. I surely will bring on my experience with the election system in the Netherlands!