2010 election will be Ottawa's most accessible
Posted Jul 29, 2010 By James Rubec
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EMC News - Accessibility to Ottawa's elections process has come a long way. On July 21, at the city's accessibility advisory committee city staff unveiled and demonstrated a Voter Assist Terminal (VAT). Catherine Bergeron, the city's manager of elections, presented the system with the project's coordinator Tyler Cox, who demonstrated a model of the machines that Ottawa will rent for the election.
James Rubec, Ottawa East EMC
A Voter Assist Terminal will be rented, making Ottawa's municipal election in October completely accessible.
The terminal looks more like an ATM than anything else, with a large screen, a keypad and places to plug in headphones. But when you look closer, you see the machine's purpose. While the terminal doesn't count or store votes, it replaces a pen, and helps the elector mark their ballot.
It does this through different tools that cater to various disabilities. The VAT has a large touch screen that displays a list of candidates, the list can be enlarged and scrolled across. There are also tactile buttons with brail that, with the help of the terminal's audio functions, allow someone who is blind to navigate through the terminal's interface and mark their ballot. The audio and text is available in both French and English.
"In previous elections, we had used a cell phone, where an elector would call an elections official who would read out the candidate option to the elector. Now the elector can make their choice by themselves in the voting booth," said Ms. Bergeron.
Other features include a sip and puff device, and a rocker paddle. A sip and puff device is a method used to send signals to a device using air pressure by "sipping" and "puffing" on a "straw" or "wand." People who do not have the use of their hands primarily use it. A rocker paddle is a switch that serves a similar purpose for those with some mobility.
The terminal takes a ballot in the front, similar to how a fax machine would receive a piece of paper. The machine then verifies that the ballot is authentic and begins the process.
To help voters, elections staff will demonstrate the terminal and other accessible voting tools, while informing them about the accessible voting process, at malls across the city. On August 23, staff will be at city hall and Carlingwood Shopping Centre. On August 24, they will be at Place D'Orleans and Bayshore Shopping Centre. On August 25, staff will be on hand at St. Laurent Shopping Centre and the Billings Bridge Plaza, and on August 26 demonstrations will take place at the Rideau Center.
Each voting booth with also have a brail candidate sheet that numbers the candidates and corresponds with a ballot slipcover, which guides an elector to mark their ballot.
With each VAT, there will be two elections staff trained in accessibility.
While having the tools to allow people to vote is important, making sure the voting location is accessible is paramount, staff said.
"In April we trained elections staff in how to spot barriers to accessibility," said Ms. Burgeron. "We did site checks of 552 voting locations, city facilities, schools, and long term care facilities to ensure that there weren't barriers that would obstruct voting accessibility."
jrubec@theemc.ca
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