The Technology of Access: Allowing People of Age to Vote for Themselves

Universal access is an important goal of technology. This talk examines several evolving voting technologies and their impact on persons with cognitive and physical disabilities. The research described will show how many of the accessibility opportunities for people of age could actually improve the performance of the voting population as a whole.

We will start with the premise that technology's goal is to create access. In this context, access should be contrasted with assistance. Technology should facilitate anyone legally permitted to vote to do so without help from another person. To the extent that we can remove the barriers to allow people to vote independently-so that their intentions can be recorded, recognized, and understood-we will reduce the need for and complications involved with having another person in the voting booth or penning an absentee ballot for the voter.

Speaker: Ted Selker, UC Berkeley