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Voting Accessibility

Thursday, October 17, 2024

Overview​

The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002 was passed by the United States Congress to make sweeping reforms to the nation's voting process. HAVA addresses improvements to voting systems and voter access that were identified following the 2000 election. Read the Help America Vote Act of 2002 and learn more about HAVA on the Department of Justice website.

This page has information and resources for 

Election Officials - These resources include best practices, research, and more. 

Voters - These resources include general information, voting laws, and more. 

Accessibility Research - This research includes reports from the EAC and partnered studies and surveys. 

Clearinghouse Awards for Accessibility - Jurisdictions and programs that have won a Clearinghouse Award for their work in making voting accessible. 

General Resources - These resources include language accessibility, a glossary of election terms, the NVRA form, and more. 

Other Government Resources - These include helpful links from the Americans with Disabilities Act website, the Government Accountability Office, and more. 

Election Officials

Accessible Elections: Information for Election Officials Video Series

This innovative video training series for election officials, poll workers, and other election stakeholders on making voting more accessible to the 40.2 million eligible voters with disabilities covers many aspects of accessibility, including physical accessibility, creating accessible polling places, and ways election administrators can create accessible websites, social media, other electronic communications, and forums.

 

Best Practices:

Accessible Voter Registration - This guide highlights the primary barriers to accessibility in the voter registration process and provide best practices to help ensure voters with disabilities have equal access to this crucial first step of the voting experience. The checklists and best practices in these guides can be utilized by election officials, policymakers, and advocates.

Accessible In-Person Voting - This document provides information about what obstacles voters with disabilities may face with in-person voting, and provides best practices to ensure these voters have equal access to all aspects of the in-person voting experience.

Accessible Vote by Mail - This document highlights the primary barriers to voting by mail and provides best practices to help ensure voters with disabilities have equal access to this crucial voting option. 

Voting Access for Native Americans - Ever since the United States formally became a nation, Native Americans have faced unique barriers to obtaining full citizenship and voting rights. This document details some of the mitigation measures jurisdictions have implemented when administering non-tribal elections in areas where federally recognized tribal governments are located. 

Help America Vote Act (HAVA)

The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002 was passed by the United States Congress to make sweeping reforms to the nation's voting process. HAVA addresses improvements to voting systems and voter access that were identified following the 2000 election. 

DOJ

EAC Commissioners Commemorate Legacy and Impact of HAVA on 16th Anniversary of Landmark Legislature

This year (2018) marked 16th anniversary of the signing of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) by President George W. Bush, watershed legislation that improved the accessibility and administration of Federal Elections and established the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to provide guidance and resources to election officials around the country.

EAC Election Management Guide, Accessibility Chapter

Every day, election officials work to make elections more accessible to the public. More than ever before, newly accessible voting machines have facilitated independent voting for voters with disabilities. This chapter includes information about voting in long-term care facilities with examples of ways to improve accessibility and to incorporate these good practices into all aspects of election administration.

EAC 2018 Annual Report, Accessibility Section

The Annual Report reports on what we have been up to during the course of a year. Read the Accessibility Section to learn how we have provided assistance to voters with disabilities in order to make elections more accessible.

U.S. Department of Justice

EAC Commemorates the ADA by Hearing How to Make Voting More Accessible for Individuals with Disabilities

Commissioners met July 28, 2015 to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of ADA and explore ways to make voting more accessible for individuals with disabilities.

Commissioners heard testimony from accessibility advocates, experts, and individuals with disabilities regarding the progress made to ensure HAVA’s requirement that individuals with disabilities be given the same opportunity to vote freely and independently as other voters.

Accessible Voting Technology Initiative

The EAC’s Accessible Voting Technology Initiative (AVTI) supports accessibility research on transformative technologies and approaches. Through the AVTI, the EAC has produced over 45 solutions for assisting voters with disabilities.  

Resources for Voters with Disabilities

This comprehensive list of resources for voters with disabilities includes links to voting accessibility laws and regulations and the latest best practices and research pertaining to voters with disabilities and elderly voters.

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Voters

Tips for Empowering Voters with Disabilities in the 2020 General Election and COVID-19 Crisis

State and local officials have spared no effort to address the challenges of COVID-19 and extraordinary progress has been made to protect the safety of both voters with disabilities and poll workers. A number of states have adopted new accessible technology to provide remote options for voters with disabilities. Now more than twenty states and the District of Columbia offer electronic ballot delivery. As new election procedures are implemented in the states and localities, this document provides recommendations on meeting accessibility requirements.

EAC Commissioners' Joint Statements on Celebrating the ADA

Resources for Voters with Disabilities

This comprehensive list of resources for voters with disabilities includes links to voting accessibility laws and regulations and the latest best practices and research pertaining to voters with disabilities and elderly voters.

 

EAC Commemorates the ADA by Hearing How to Make Voting More Accessible for Individuals with Disabilities

Commissioners met July 28, 2015 to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of ADA and explore ways to make voting more accessible for individuals with disabilities.

Commissioners heard testimony from accessibility advocates, experts, and individuals with disabilities regarding the progress made to ensure HAVA’s requirement that individuals with disabilities be given the same opportunity to vote freely and independently as other voters.

Accessible Voting Technology Initiative

The EAC’s Accessible Voting Technology Initiative (AVTI) supports accessibility research on transformative technologies and approaches.

Through the AVTI, the EAC has produced over 45 solutions for assisting voters with disabilities. The initiatives include the EAC’s Military Heroes grant to provide assistance needed for recently injured military personnel to participate in elections. 

 

EAC   

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Research

Voting Experiences Since HAVA: Perspectives of People with Disabilities

This EAC report, developed in partnership with Rutgers University, explores how the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) impacted the voting experiences of voters with disabilities since it was passed in 2002. It uses qualitative data from focus groups of voters with disabilities, highlights their perspectives on their voting experiences, and examines how their experiences have changed over time. The report also presents quantitative data from national surveys on voter turnout and accessibility to provide context for exploring focus group discussions. Key findings on HAVA's impact include:

  • Turnout of voters with disabilities has increased since HAVA was adopted.
  • The accessibility of polling places has improved significantly over the last 20 years.
  • There is greater adoption of accessible voting systems in polling places, mail-in voting, and accessible ballot delivery and return.
  • Despite this decrease in the disability voter turnout gap, people with disabilities remain less likely to vote than people without disabilities, in part because of the voting difficulties discussed in this report.

Difficulties still exist for voters with disabilities, but the agency hopes the ongoing research done by the EAC and Rutgers University spotlights the progress election officials have made while acknowledging where there is still work to be done.

Voting Experiences Since HAVA: Perspectives of People with Disabilities (PDF version)
Voting Experiences Since HAVA: Perspectives of People with Disabilities (Word version)

EAC and Rutgers Study on Disability and Voting Accessibility in the 2022 Elections

The EAC’s “Disability and Voting Accessibility in the 2022 Elections” study was completed under the clearinghouse and research mandates outlined in the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). The study aimed to analyze the 2022 election experience for voters with disabilities. Building on the EAC study conducted in 2020, the EAC collaborated with a team of experienced researchers from Rutgers University and launched the project immediately after the 2022 general election. 

 

EAC Disability and Voting Accessibility Surveys

“Disability, the Voting Process, and the Digital Divide” was conducted through a national survey in March and April of 2022 to identify both the advancements and gaps in accessibility for voters with disabilities. The study was conducted with a focus on computer and internet use, sources of information on the voting process used in 2020, accessibility of information sources, preferred ways of receiving information about the voting process, trust in information sources, expectations about voting and information sources in 2022, and knowledge of rights for accessible information. Access to this data is critical for election officials who are continuously working to communicate and meet the needs of their jurisdictions. Understanding how to better communicate with voters with disabilities – regardless of access to the internet – is crucial to making elections more accessible.

The EAC’s “Disability and Voting Accessibility in the 2020 Elections” study analyzes the 2020 election experience for voters with disabilities amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Building on a similar EAC study conducted in 2012, the EAC collaborated with a team of experienced researchers from Rutgers University and launched the project immediately after the 2020 general election.

More information and the full report are available here:

 

EAC and Rutgers Study on Disability and Voting Accessibility in the 2020 Elections

The EAC’s “Disability and Voting Accessibility in the 2020 Elections” study has been completed under the clearinghouse and research mandates outlined in the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). The study aimed to analyze the 2020 election experience for voters with disabilities amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Building on a similar EAC study conducted in 2012, the EAC collaborated with a team of experienced researchers from Rutgers University and launched the project immediately after the 2020 general election. 

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Clearinghouse Awards for Accessibility 

2023 Clearie Winners for Accessibility for Voters with Disabilities

  • Knox County Clerk, Indiana
  • Tennessee Secretary of State, Division of Elections

2022 Clearie Winners for Accessibility for Voters with Disabilities

  • Dubuque County Auditor's Office, Iowa
  • Franklin County Board of Elections, Ohio 

2021 Clearie Winners for Accessibility for Voters with Disabilities

2020 Clearie Winners for Accessibility for Voters with Disabilities

2019 Clearie Winners for Accessibility for Voters with Disabilities:

2018 Clearinghouse Winners for Accessibility for Voters with Disabilities:

2017 Clearinghouse Winners for Accessibility for Voters with Disabilities

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General Resources

EAC Language Accessibility Resources

As mandated by the Help America Vote Act, the EAC Language Accessibility Program studies and promotes accessibility in voting, registration, polling places and voting equipment. The materials we issue are the product of collaboration among working groups comprising election officials, advocacy groups and research and public policy organizations.

The EAC's Language Accessibility Program has developed Glossaries of Election Terminology, Voter's Guides to Federal Elections and the National Mail Voter Registration Form.  These resources are important in helping election officials provide translated voting materials at a lower cost.  

1. Glossary of Election Terminology

Our glossaries are available in six languages: Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Tagalog, and Vietnamese. The glossaries contain 1,843 terms and phrases used in the administration of elections in the United States. To ensure the translations were culturally and linguistically appropriate, terms were translated and reviewed by a multi-dialect team of translators representing the main regions of each language. For example, the Spanish to English Glossary was produced by teams represented from four of the main regions of origin of the Hispanic population living in the U.S: Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Central America.

2. Voter's Guide to Federal Elections

Our voter's guide is available in eleven languages: Cherokee, Chinese, Dakota, English, Japanese, Korean, Navajo, Spanish, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and Yupik. It is designed to help voters successfully navigate the federal elections process, from registering to vote to casting a ballot on Election Day. In addition to the basics of ballot-casting, it also includes information on eligibility and early voting, as well as the registration and voting process for military and civilians living abroad, and polling place services that make voting more accessible.

3. Translating the National Mail Voter Registration Form

EAC has translated the National Mail Voter Registration form into Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Tagalog and Vietnamese. The links below contain additional information about this work.

 

EAC "Your Federal Voting Rights" Braille Card

As a Voter with a Disability, you have the right to: 

  • Vote privately and independently

  • Have an accessible polling place with voting machines for voters with disabilities 

you may either:

  1. Seek assistance from workers at the polling place who have been trained to use the accessible voting machine, or

  2. Bring someone to help you vote 

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Image of the EAC "Your Federal Voting Rights" card available in Braille

You may request your local election officials to tell you about any voting aids, voting assistance, and absentee ballot procedures that are available. 

Ensure your right to accessible elections. For more information, contact the U.S. Election Assistance Commission By phone at 866-747-1471 or by email at [email protected].

To request the "Your Federal Voting Rights" Braille Card, please email: [email protected]

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Other Government Resources

Department of Justice

ADA.gov   

United States Access Board

Government Accountability Office

Additional Resources

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