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#ACB18 Audio: Welcome to Accessible Voting With Votec


There are a lot of rules and laws at play when it comes to the process of voting. Douglas Towne, of Votec Corperation, discusses some of the ins and outs of that process in this interview from the ACB Exhibit Hall floor. Find out about pollbooks and hear an overview of the Welcome Voter Kiosk. To learn more about accessible voting, visit the Votec w ebsite.

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This week we're teaming up with our friends on the Google Accessibility team to talk about accessibility features within products like Android, Chrome OS, G Suite, Google Home, Assistant and more! Be sure to listen to our podcast series where we get the inside scoop, including the upcoming launch of Chat support and a 24 hour response time for the Disability Support team on July 9th.

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Transcript

We strive to provide an accurate transcription, though errors may occur.

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Transcribed by Grecia Ramirez

Direct from St. Louis, it’s blindbargains.com coverage of ACB 2018, brought to you by Google
Our friends at Google are working hard to create great technology products for everyone. They’re inviting you to participate in Google user research studies, where you can help shape the future of accessible products and features and get rewarded for it. Check out our tweet for the sign-up link, at blind bargains, or head to google.com slash user research.
Now, here’s J.J. Meddaugh
J.J. MEDDAUGH: ACB 2018. I found Douglas Towne of Votec Corporation, and we are talking about accessible voting but in a different style. Actually, the process before you even get a chance to vote. Douglas, welcome to our podcast.
DOUGLAS TOWNE: Thank you. Appreciate that.
JM: So, of course, accessible voting machines have been a thing for a decade or more now, but there’s a whole process. When you show up for the polling place before you even vote, that isn’t so accessible. That’s what you guys are trying to change; right?
DT: That’s right. Yeah. Until recently, all the voter records were kept in a huge binder of paper, and you’d go into the polling place and you’d show them your ID, and the poll worker would start flipping pages until they found your page. And then, they would ask you, you know, is this your name, is this where you live, and so forth. Now, those paper books, paper binders, are becoming electronic poll books. So because they’re electronic poll books now, they have to be accessible now, under HAVA and under Title II of the ADA.
So last year, we came to ACB and asked for a whole lot of information.
JM: Uh-huh.
DT: We took that information back to the lab and developed an accessible poll book called the WelcomeVoter Kiosk.
JM: Okay.
DT: So now, you will step up to the kiosk, you will give them your ID, they will pull up what they think is your record, you will go through it line by line and confirm that this is your name, this is how it’s spelled, this is your address, that’s correct, this is the party that you want to be registered under, and then of course, your age – all of the information that is in your voter record, you would confirm. So no longer do you have to wait for or trust the tired-out poll worker who’s been on her feet for 12 hours, you know, where – now, you do it yourself.
And of course, for the blind community, it’s about, you know, independence. It’s about not having to wait for somebody else, not having to let somebody else see your personal information. And of course, in the polling place, what’s happening is that other people are looking at their – at the tablet, reading the information and saying, yes, that’s me. If the tablet’s not accessible, then they’re saying, are you Doug Towne? Do you live at 5142? And maybe I don’t want the big, ugly guy standing behind me to know where I live.
JM: Right.
DT: Okay? So it’s also about –
JM: Do you plug in a pair of headphones –
DT: It’s also about privacy. You plug in –
JM: Yup.
DT: -- a pair of headphones, and you get to review all that information yourself.
COMPUTERIZED VOICE: Slide your finger –
DT: Some states, for example, now say that you don’t have to say your party of choice out loud.
COMPUTERIZED VOICE: Slide your finger up and down to change speaking screen.
JM: Right.
DT: You can point to the – you can point to what party it is on the piece of paper without saying it because evidently, there’s been some issues with people harassing people.
JM: Well, it depends on the state, I guess too. And I think some states might not even require that information at all; right?
DT: Yeah. Texas, for example, passed a law saying that you don’t have to say your party affiliation out loud.
JM: Okay.
DT: Evidently, they’ve had some issues with people harassing people --
JM: Yeah.
DT: -- and stuff. So –
JM: So this thing’s been talking?
DT: Yeah. It has been.
JM: Do you want to explain what’s going on or how –
DT: So the system is pretty simple. We designed it to be very intuitive, and it allows you to choose the information. So let’s – why don’t we – let me step over here --
JM: Okay.
DT: -- and we’ll see what we can --
COMPUTERIZED VOICE: Select –
DT: -- what we can do.
COMPUTERIZED VOICE: Slide your finger up and down to change speaking screen. Swipe right for next screen. Slide your finger up and down to change speaking screen.
JM: There you go.
DT: So you can – as you can see, you can change the speed. Okay? You can also change the volume. And –
COMPUTERIZED VOICE: Select right for next screen.
DT: -- depends on how quick you want to be. So you swipe –
COMPUTERIZED VOICE: Next screen. What you hear is also shown on the screen in case you have someone with you who wants to –
DT: So just like the voting machine, you can blank the screen so that nobody can look over your shoulder and see where you live or anything like that. So you swipe twice.
JM: Uh-huh.
DT: Now, it’s asking you to confirm, because the system standards require that you confirm every action.
JM: Okay. And that would be the same for a sighted person as well or –
DT: Yes.
JM: Uh-huh.
COMPUTERIZED VOICE: -- Smith living at 221 Baker Street.
DT: So we are at –
JM: And it’s spelling the name.
DT: Right.
COMPUTERIZED VOICE: -- S-m-i-t-h. Swipe right for yes; swipe left for no.
DT: So it’s spelling your name to make sure it’s correct.
JM: Swipe right for yes.
DT: Okay. So you’re going to swipe right.
COMPUTERIZED VOICE: Yes. Swipe right again to confirm your –
DT: And swipe to confirm it.
COMPUTERIZED VOICE: -- is your address 221 Baker Street Dallas, Texas? Swipe right for yes.
DT: So you’re going to confirm your address.
COMPUTERIZED VOICE: Yes. Swipe right again to confirm –
DT: Now, if you – if you decide that the address is wrong, you would swipe left, and then the poll worker would come and assist you and decide what’s wrong, what needs to be changed, and depending on the –
JM: Is that an accessibility thing, or would that be the case for anybody?
DT: Pretty much be the case for anybody.
JM: So a sighted person, too, would have to have a poll worker write the new address?
DT: Yeah. Because if your address is wrong – now, depending on the state –
JM: Right.
DT: -- they have different rules.
COMPUTERIZED VOICE: Swipe left again to confirm or swipe right to cancel.
JM: Right. And whether you can change your address on the day of the election.
DT: Yeah. It does. It all depends. You know, every state’s – we have to build a system that will comply with all 50 state –
JM: Okay.
DT: -- states’ rules; right? I mean, every state has different rules and regulations.
JM: Yeah. Sounds good. Cool. Why don’t we turn that back down so we can – that thing loves to talk, doesn’t it?
DT: It does love to talk. Yeah.
JM: So what’s the cost of this kiosk versus the cost of a non-accessible one, or there’s no such thing?
DT: There is virtually –
JOHN MEDCALF: Maybe 10 percent –
JM: Yeah.
DT: -- you know, but it’s negligible in comparison, and of course, once they’re out in the marketplace, you know, we expect the cost would be negligible --
JM: And that’s interesting –
DT: -- cost difference.
JM: -- to me that HAVA makes this requirement. I didn’t realize it extended to –
DT: Well, you know, it’s very – it’s questionable. The – we went to – when this first came up, we went and talked to members of Congress. We wrote HAVA and said, was it your intention that the entire election system be accessible? And they kind of scratched their heads and went, well, of course.
So it really doesn’t matter whether HAVA requires it or not because Title II of the ADA –
JM: Does anyway.
DT: -- does anyway.
JM: Yup.
DT: And requires that all government services be accessible. So even if they want to argue over HAVA, you know, it’s a Title II issue as far as I’m concerned. So that’s where we’re going with that.
So we’re demoing it here, taking more input. I will tell you that we’ve gotten pretty much rave reviews from everybody who’s tried it. And they like it.
JM: Right.
DT: So we’re off to show it to the counties and the states and hopefully, the states and counties will be requiring that all poll books are accessible.
JM: Are there several competing products at the moment, or are you the only one or –
DT: There – Votec is the only company that’s invested in accessibility.
JM: Okay.
DT: There are others out there who may claim that they’re accessible. But the reason they claim that is because they went and turned VoiceOver on on their iPads and they say, oh, look. It’s accessible. But, you know, anybody listening out there that knows anything about accessible technology knows that unless the software was written to be accessible, it’s not necessarily accessible just because it talks.
JM: Okay.
DT: You know, so – but we’re also – it’s not just about the blind. We’ve developed a pathway for the deaf that, for one thing, allows the deaf person to type their name and other information on the screen so the poll worker can see it. And it allows the poll worker to type back to the deaf person so they can communicate in the polling place. We’re also providing ASL on screen instructions. So for the deaf person that doesn’t read English –
JM: Uh-huh.
DT: -- they can get the instructions in American Sign Language.
JM: Braille support?
DT: Well, braille is another thing.
JM: You have to buy a display and everything too, I know. That’s the –
DT: Yeah. And putting a braille display is very difficult, you know.
JM: Sure. Okay.
DT: It could be – and one of the things we’ve been wrestling with, because we got a lot of interest from the deaf community and from the deaf-blind community about it. And so we’ve been exploring a lot of ways to make voting accessible to the deaf-blind, but it’s a very costly proposition, so –
JM: Right. Every polling place.
DT: Yeah. And of course, it’s a very small population too. That’s another issue; right?
JM: right. Sure.
DT: So –
JM: Sounds like you’re definitely looking for feedback and input –
DT: Oh yeah.
JM: -- so what’s the best way for people to contact you?
DT: Well, they can go to our website, which is votecdesignedforall.com.
JM: V-o-t-e-c.
DT: Yup. Designed --
JM: Designed –
DT: -- d-e-s- --
JM: -- for all.
DT: -- i-g-n-e-d, f-o-r, a-l-l, dot com. And there’s an email contact on there, they can sign up for our newsletter, they can take our survey if they’d like and let us know what they think, and they –
And very soon, we’re going to have a downloadable version of this in iOS. So you can download it and put it on your iPad or your phone and try the demo yourself at home so you have some understanding of what we’re talking about and how it works. That’s coming in the next several months, just so people can play with it and give us more feedback out there --
JM: Great.
DT: -- as they try it.
JM: Thank you so much, Doug. We really appreciate it.
DT: Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it.
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Joe Steinkamp is no stranger to the world of technology, having been a user of video magnification and blindness related electronic devices since 1979. Joe has worked in radio, retail management and Vocational Rehabilitation for blind and low vision individuals in Texas. He has been writing about the A.T. Industry for 15 years and podcasting about it for almost a decade.


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