- Deque Systems, a software company focused on web and mobile accessibility solutions, published a report Wednesday that found 43 states employ ballot applications that are inaccessible to people with disabilities.
- Despite the rise of mail-in
voting ahead of November's election, only Massachusetts and Michigan offer an accessible application for a mail-in ballot, according to the report. - The scores of states with currently inaccessible ballot applications mean "we're denying millions of citizens their right to vote," Elizabeth Pendo, a
disability law specialist at Saint Louis University, told Business Insider.
As millions of voters gear up to mail in their ballots for the upcoming presidential election, a new report found that
Deque Systems, a software company focused on web and mobile accessibility solutions, said in its report how the lack of accessibility across these ballots could disenfranchise the millions of voters who have disabilities. CEO Preety Kumar said despite the rise in mail-in ballots for voters during the coronavirus pandemic, the process to apply for one in many states "will be difficult or impossible for many people with disabilities."
Deque manually found and analyzed each state's ballot application for ease of accessibility, checking for issues that might act as barriers to people who are disabled. This included checking for whether each field to fill out in a PDF application, for example, could be rendered properly to somebody using a screen reader or using text-to-speech technology, Kumar said.
About one in four adults in the United States, or 61 million people, have a disability, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A report from the Program for Disability Research at Rutgers University projects that more than 38 million people with disabilities are eligible to vote in this year's election, a figure representing 16.3% of the electorate.
If states can't offer fully accessible applications for a ballot, "we're denying millions of citizens their right to vote," Elizabeth Pendo, a disability law specialist at Saint Louis University, told Business Insider.
Voters with disabilities make up a larger voting bloc than either the near 30 million people who are Black or the 31 million people who are Hispanic or Latino, according to the Rutgers report.
"The sheer size of the disability electorate makes it clear that people with disabilities and their family members have the potential to swing
With just over 30 days until the November presidential election, disability rights groups have been sounding the alarm about accessibility in voting.
Nonprofit Miami Lighthouse for the Blind released a report last week that said a dozen state election websites are not fully accessible to people who are blind or have visual impairments.
This new report from Deque Systems underscores the long way the United States has to go to ensure universal accessibility in voting, Pendo said. And while the pandemic has not necessarily created new accessibility issues in voting, the solution has been long overdue.
Advocates and scholars have studied accessibility in voting for years, and there are "certainly models to draw upon" to ensure that voting systems are accessible, Pendo said.
This year's push to vote from home highlights the variety of obstacles for voters with disabilities in every state
With just a little over a month to go before the election, some states told Business Insider they are still working on including an accessible absentee application on their website.
"It is under development at this time," said Kristen Schulze Muszynski, director of communications at the Maine secretary of state's office, referring Business Insider to its website that features a "holding space" for when this option becomes available.
"We plan to go live with the accessible ballot request service October 2nd," Muszynski said.
Grace Newcombe, press secretary for Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill, told Business Insider that the office is "actively working with the Alabama Institute of Deaf and Blind as well as other advocacy organizations to discuss accessible voting options."
Some states dismissed the Deque Systems report, citing measures state election officials implemented to serve voters with disabilities.
"We disagree with the report," said Julia Bruck, director of communications for Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett. "On our website, we've provided voters who qualify to vote absentee and need an accessible absentee ballot with a link to print a disability absentee ballot request form."
Wanda Murren, director of the Office of Communications and Press at the Pennsylvania Department of State, told Business Insider that the state has in the past taken several measures to ensure accessibility in voting across multiple elections.
"As part of our certification testing, each system was thoroughly reviewed by accessibility experts and tested by actual voters with disabilities," Murren said. "We are proud of the work we do in Pennsylvania to make voting accessible to every voter."
Eric Covey, chief of staff at the Vermont secretary of state's office, said in an email that all registered voters will automatically receive a ballot in the mail for this year's election, "so this report may not reflect the voting experience for Vermonters in the 2020 General Election." Covey also pointed to the state's "strong track record of working with Vermont disability advocacy organizations to identify and eliminate barriers to registration and voting for Vermonters with disabilities."
Deque released alternate versions of application ballots from the 43 states on its own website to alleviate the accessibility issues the company found. These applications have been "revised" to correct any inaccessible features, Deque CEO Kumar said.
Whether these altered applications will be accepted is a question with answers that vary from state to state.
The Maine secretary of state's office will not be able to accept an application from another site, including Deque Systems, Muszynski said to Business Insider. Newcombe from Alabama also warned that the applications on Deque's site might create "confusion and concern for all voters."
On the other hand, "anything in writing evidencing a desire to receive a ballot which bears the voter's signature is an acceptable form of request in Massachusetts," according to Debra O'Malley, spokesperson for the Massachusetts secretary of state.
"But it would need to have the voter's signature on it, signed in substantially the same manner as the voter's hand-written signature," O'Malley continued. "If they are not able to do that through this system, we would certainly recommend they use the online application system, which requires no signature."
In Missouri, state law requires that an application be submitted by the voter or a close relative, according to Maura Browning, spokesperson for Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft.
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