Accessibility in Modern Voting Systems – Our Letter to the EAC

Since January of this year, VotingWorks has been in testing with the Election Assistance Commission to the latest federal standard – the Voluntary Voting Systems Guidelines v2.0. In that process, vendors submit Requests for Information (RFIs) to the EAC to get clarification on areas of the standard that may be ambiguous. This is particularly common for a new standard like VVSG 2.0.

Recently, the EAC has been considering an RFI regarding accessibility. This RFI was not submitted by VotingWorks, but it’s an RFI in which we take great interest. Effectively, the RFI asks whether a VVSG 2.0 voting system can include a Ballot Marking Device that supports only a small portion of the new accessibility requirements, as long as a different Ballot Marking Device within the complete system supports the other requirements.

We think certifying these less-accessible Ballot-Marking Devices would break the spirit of VVSG 2.0, and, in practice, would greatly weaken the accessibility advances of VVSG 2.0. Two weeks ago, we sent a letter to the EAC to explain our position. As part of our commitment to transparency, we’re posting the full letter here.