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More than 35 million Americans with disabilities are eligible to vote in the United States. This accounts for a broad range of disabilities, including mobility, communicative, physical and cognitive impairments. The EAC has a strong commitment to working with both election officials and voters with disabilities to ensure that the election process, polling places and voting services are accessible.
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:
- Seek assistance from workers at the polling place who have been trained to use the accessible voting machine, or
- Bring someone to help you vote
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 listen@eac.gov.
more on Voting Accessibility in the US.
ADA CHECKLIST FOR POLLING PLACES
moreThe U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) was established by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA). EAC is an independent, bipartisan commission charged with developing guidance to meet HAVA requirements, adopting voluntary voting system guidelines, and serving as a national clearinghouse of information on election administration. EAC also accredits testing laboratories and certifies voting systems, as well as audits the use of HAVA funds.
Other responsibilities include maintaining the national mail voter registration form developed in accordance with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993.
HAVA established the Standards Board and the Board of Advisors to advise EAC. The law also established the Technical Guidelines Development Committee to assist EAC in the development of voluntary voting system guidelines.
The four EAC commissioners are appointed by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. EAC is required to submit an annual report to Congress as well as testify periodically about HAVA progress and related issues. The commission also holds public meetings and hearings to inform the public about its progress and activities.
moreDevice used to read the voter selection data from a paper ballot or ballot card.
moreProcess of varying the order of the candidate names within a given contest.
moreProcess of generating ballots for presentation to voters, e.g., printing paper ballots or configuring the ballot presentation on a DRE.
moreSelecting the specific contests and questions to be contained in a ballot format and related instructions; preparing and testing election-specific software containing these selections; producing all possible ballot formats; and validating the correctness of ballot materials and software containing these selections for an upcoming election.
moreA specific place in a ballot where a voter’s selection for a particular contest may be indicated. Positions may be connected to row and column numbers on the face of a voting machine or ballot, particular bit positions in a binary record of a ballot (for example, an electronic ballot image), the equivalent in some other form. Ballot positions are bound to specific contests and candidate names by the ballot configuration.
more- A question that appears on the ballot for approval or rejection.
- A contest on a ballot where the voter may vote yes or no