Vote-PAD, cheap, accessible voting on paper

Accessible Voting Without Computers

A Little Background

Some people with visual or dexterity impairments cannot mark a paper ballot without assistance. The Federal Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) requires that every polling place must offer a method by which people with disabilities can vote independently.

Electronic voter-assist devices provide help to certain disabled voters, however many such machines fail to provide comprehensive assistance for dexterity impaired voters. Furthermore, all electronic voter-assist products are expensive to acquire, store, and maintain. Only a portion of the acquisition cost is funded by federal HAVA money.

The Problem

To their surprise, many jurisdictions that already use computerized voting equipment are finding that there are no HAVA-compliant electronic options compatible with their current systems. They need a compliant device quickly, if only as an interim solution.

Paper-ballot jurisdictions that do not want to or cannot afford to computerize their election systems need a non-computerized method of providing private and independent voting for voters with disabilities.

All jurisdictions need to provide independent voting on paper provisional ballots and back-up paper ballots.

The Solution

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.

“I can’t use my fingers, so I have to hit a touch screen with my whole hand and I get lots of error messages. I can use the Vote-PAD.”
~ Maria Matos, Boston Center for Independent Living (Quadriplegic tester)

Supplementing existing voter-assist methods with Vote-PADs is a responsible way of ensuring accessible provisional voting and voting during breakdowns.

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.

Holes are cut out of the sleeve at locations where a voter can mark choices. The sleeve protects the ballot from stray marks.

A page-turning aid is attached to the outside of each sleeve and each cover to assist voters with dexterity impairments in turning the pages.

ballot sleeve

Raised dots attached to the sleeve beside each cutout provide tactile indications for blind voters. An audio tape interprets the raised dots so listeners know which hole corresponds to which candidate — just like the tactile ballot template used in Rhode Island.

bump dots on sleeve

“For me, this 2005 election on the difficult-to-use DRE machines was just another real reminder that we definitely need your Vote-PAD.”
~ Noel Runyan, Human-Factors Engineer and Blind Voter

Unlike voter-assist methods that only offer audio for blind voters, the Vote-PAD can be accompanied by Braille instructions.

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.

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.

depositing the ballot

The ballot for each election in each jurisdiction is unique. Because each sleeve is specifically constructed to match a unique ballot sheet, the Vote-PAD is custom built for each ballot. Therefore, production of each Vote-PAD is designed to be inexpensive so that the Vote-PADs can be recycled or discarded after each election.

Vote-PADs can be constructed by hand with readily available materials. Or, they can be manufactured at a fraction of the cost of computerized voter-assist methods. Contact us for more information.

Download and print a tri-fold brochure (148 KB).

View an explanation of how disabled individuals use the Vote-PAD.

Examine a comparison of the Vote-PAD costs with the costs of electronic equipment (75 KB).

Read what eight of the many people who tested for us said about the Vote-PAD (103 KB).

Learn about the company and the participants.

The Vote-PAD was developed in cooperation with both dexterity- and visually-impaired individuals, whose advice and suggestions we gratefully included in the design.