Accessibility and Usability Considerations for Remote Electronic UOCAVA Voting Sharon Laskowski, PhD National Institute of Standards and Technology TGDC Meeting, July 8-9, 2010

Issues and Recommendations are organized by technology General accessibility and usability Web browsers Web ballot repositories Online ballot markers and electronic form fillers Kiosks Telephone-based interfaces Fax machines 2

TGDC Meeting, July 8-9, 2010 Example Recommendations: General accessibility and usability Accessibility and usability best practices and guidelines have not been systematically applied to design and testing of UOCAVA voting systems Recommendation: Where appropriate follow VVSG 2.0 accessibility and usability requirements and test methods 3

TGDC Meeting, July 8-9, 2010 Web-based voting The VVSG does not address Web-based voting systems or Personal Assistive Technologies (PAT) Use of Javascript and Java applets may lead to loss of focus for screen readers Recommendation: Follow W3C Web Accessibility Initiative WCAG 2.0 and ARIA*, Section 508 guidelines, and best practices for accessibility for AJAX (asynchronous JavaScript and XML) implementations *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, Accessible Rich Internet Applications 4

TGDC Meeting, July 8-9, 2010 Authentication and CAPTCHAs Some authentication approaches are not compatible with accessibility Visual CAPTCHAs Recommendation: Follow accessible CAPTCHA design guidelines – Resizable – Adequate contrast to distinguish the CAPTCHA from its background – Don’t use shadows – Alternatives, e.g, text readout, phone in 5

TGDC Meeting, July 8-9, 2010 Interoperability For Web-based remote electronic voting, a variety of system components must run simultaneously: operating systems, browsers, voting software, PAT, and voting system hardware (for kiosks) Web applications must display properly with all commonly-used Web browsers and screen readers Recommendation: It is critical to design for and test all common configurations for interoperability, including testing with PAT by testers familiar with using PAT 6

TGDC Meeting, July 8-9, 2010 Documents When voters view and/or print documents (such as ballots), the documents need to be accessible PDF might not be accessible Recommendations: If you must use PDF, – Save documents as accessible PDF rather than images – To support screen legibility for low vision voters, check that Adobe Reader “reflow” feature performs correctly – If voters need to print for submission, support print legibility for low vision voters by providing enlarged font documents (not a substitute for accessible PDF and/or screen viewing) 7

TGDC Meeting, July 8-9, 2010 Telephone-based interfaces Telephone-based interfaces without a screen require the ability to hear the prompts and also impose a high memory load Recommendations: – Create requirements based on general best practices for interactive voice response systems – Require non-auditory alternatives for people with hearing loss and non-manual alternatives for people severe manual dexterity disabilities 8