Skip to main content

Election tech accessibility database

Democracies globally are increasingly reliant on technology to deliver free and fair elections, from online voting to voter registration software, biometric voter registration, and electronic voting machines. The design and implementation of election technology, in turn, directly impacts the inclusivity of elections. Voters with disabilities face longstanding and emerging barriers to voting, and technology can help or hinder.

Our proposed approach

The Election Tech Accessibility Database is a proposed effort to catalog a broad range of election technology, and assistive technology that can be applied in elections. IFES is proposing the database and seeking feedback from the community to make it as useful, intuitive, and impactful as possible.

The database will identify the accessibility features available, either as standard features or optional additions, with these technologies for persons with disabilities. The goal of this initiative is to create more transparency around election technology accessibility features, which is valuable for many audiences. For instance, this information will allow technology providers to clearly communicate the base and optional features of their products; election officials and other officials to make informed choices in procurement; disability rights organizations to advocate with stakeholders; election observers and media to critically evaluate technologies used in elections; and voters in general to be better aware of the experiences of voters with disabilities where these tools are or are not readily available on election day.

Such transparent information about the election technology landscape can improve voters’ experiences and enhance both perceived and real electoral integrity globally.

About the database specification

At present, the proposed dataset will capture 55 datapoints for each product, drawing from international standards on accessibility and inputs from the global disability and elections technology communities. These include information across seven categories:

  • Product Details, including any supporting documentation and information on whether it has yet been used;
  • Provider Information, including website;
  • Technical Capabilities that may come standard or optional, including connectivity to the internet or capturing of biometric data;
  • Electoral Uses, meaning all the ways the device can be used in the election process from candidate registration through ballot verification;
  • Accessibility Features review, including alternative text and audio options, and whether they come standard or are optional, possibly at an additional cost;
  • Accessibility Review, meaning whether the disability community has been consulted and alignment with WCAG 2.0 standards, where applicable;
  • Record Updates including source information to once again be transparent about where this detail is coming from and who has reviewed it.

Gathering and updating the data

Election technology and assistive technology are constantly changing, so the database will need to be updated regularly. Our proposed approach to data collection is decentralized, allowing providers and other stakeholders to attest to the capabilities of a product, and providing attribution for the sources of submitted data. Database records will be treated as living records that can be updated by the original submitter over time as things change.

Technical users can review the codebook

Publishing and using the data

We propose making the database available to the public for use under an open license. Some included information may be public domain or may require special consideration; we propose actively engaging with the community as these considerations become more clear through the data collection process.