Considering the number of accessible voting systems needed in a voting location
Considering the number of accessible voting systems needed in a voting location
Every polling place must have at least one accessible voting system to ensure that voters with disabilities can mark and cast their ballot independently and privately. This was a big step forward for accessible voting when it was introduce in the Help America Vote Act of 2002. However, problems still remain to ensuring that equal access accessible voting systms for in-person voting.
This document is a summary of approaches to considering how to resource and configure voting options for in-person voting so that an accessible voting system is available to anyone who needs or wants to use it, on an equal basis to any other method of voting.
Considering the number of accessible voting systems needed in a voting location
Download report (PDF)Key findings
Accessible voting systems benefit far more voters than those with disabilities — and how many are needed depends on how you frame the question.
Ballot marking devices are valuable to all voters
Ballot marking devices offer benefits to voters beyond a narrow definition of disability, including error prevention, support for easily changing selections, visual presentation options, audio support for those with low literacy, and support for Spanish and other languages. However, one of the most frequently-reported problems reported is that the accessible machine is present but not set up and ready for use, creating a secondary barrier.
How many BMDs are required to meet the letter of the law?
HAVA requires 1 accessible voting system per polling place in federal elections.
How many BMDs are needed in practice?
Using a popular wait-time calculator, this white paper explores several options for how to frame the question and decide how many accessible voting systems are needed. Options to ensure that the availability of a BMD does not add to the wait time for voters with disabilities incude:
- BMDs as a percentage of the total number of voting booths required
- Estimated wait times based on the average voting time and number of BMDs provided
- A ratio of voters choosing a BMD or hand-marking the ballot, when given an option
Other consideration for deciding how many BMDs are needed include:
- Including language access as a feature of the BMD
- Considering whether all voters have the option to use a BMD
- Whether curbside or drive-through voting is available
- Calulating thenumber of people who most rely on the features of a BMD by prioritizing vision, mobility
- Including reading literacy statistics (literacy is not included in disability statistics)
About the research
This research was conducted by Whitney Quesenbery and Lynn Baumeister at the Center for Civic Design.
This document draws on existing resources including Access Board requirements for architectural accessibility, tools that calculate resources required to avoid lines in polling places, data on overall turnout and BMD usage, and data on laws and procedures about how accessible voting options are offered. It was published in April 2023.
Related resources
Visit our page on accessibility to find more resources on making the voter journey and election information accessible to all voters.
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