iAPP - iPad Accessibility Pilot Project

About the Program

Category: Information Technology (Best in Category)

Year: 2013

The iPad Accessibility Pilot Program (iAPP) implemented by the Denver Elections Division has provided voters with the option to use iPads as ballot marking devices. These devices enable voters with disabilities to mark and cast their ballots privately, in the comfort of their own Group Residential Facility (GRF). The Help America Vote Act, passed in 2002, requires that at polling places Direct Recording Equipment (DRE) machines be made available that are accessible for people with disabilities. Colorado law also requires that any group residential facility with more than seven mail ballot recipients have those ballots delivered by county election staff. The Denver Elections Division has combined these two requirements, by bringing iPads equipped with assistive technologies to group residential facilities. Using headphones, a voter can have the ballot read to them via the narrator function on the iPad, and simply tap anywhere on the screen in order to make a selection when they hear the name of the candidate they wish to choose. For the first time in Colorado, voters who are restricted to their home facility can vote privately and independently. The ballot is then printed and submitted into a ballot box transported by Denver Elections Division staff back to our office for counting. In addition to voting, the iPads have provided an opportunity for members of group residential facilities to update their voter registration information on the spot, and immediately be issued a ballot using the iAPP system.