We are calling on everyone, including voters, non-voters, election
officials, people with disabilities, designers, engineers, and students,
to help us make elections more accessible for everyone.
We invite you to join us in this challenge.
Read more below or visit us at:
http://www.openideo.com/open/voting/brief.html
What is the challenge?
We are searching for creative answers to the question: How might we design an accessible election experience for everyone?
Here’s
how the process works. We start by trying to better understand the
problem. Over the next few weeks, everyone will be invited to help us
research the issues and share their experiences. We are sharing stories,
insights and examples of voting systems or experiences that might
relate to elections and accessibility.
In a few weeks, we’ll
start focusing on brainstorming solutions. Along the way, there will be
opportunities for feedback and to refine concepts and solutions.
You can join the challenge at any time. The discussion is always open.
Who should participate?
Everyone is encouraged to participate. Everyone. That includes you!
To participate, go to:
http://www.openideo.com/open/voting/brief.html
Why are we hosting this challenge?
We
believe elections can be made more accessible for people with
disabilities and anyone else who faces barriers to participating in
democracy.
All of the ideas generated by this challenge will be
made freely available to anyone who wants to implement them. For
example, Los Angeles County elections officials will be following this
challenge in their pursuit of a modern voting system. In L.A. County
alone, your ideas during this challenge can help improve the voting
experience for 4.5 million voters.
Who is hosting the challenge?
The
Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) is a non-profit
think tank at the cutting edge of designing policies that will boost
economic growth and improve quality of life in the United States and
around the world. The ITIF Accessible Voting Technology Initiative is a
project funded by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to make
voting processes and technology more accessible. We are partnering with
OpenIDEO on this challenge. OpenIDEO is an open innovation platform that
taps into the scale of social networks to tackle challenges for social
good. This challenge is one way we are exploring new ideas for improving
elections. For more about our project, go to
http://elections.itif.org.
What should you do next?
To start, read the challenge brief (
http://www.openideo.com/open/voting/brief.html) to get a sense of the scope and direction for the challenge.
Then head over to OpenIDEO (
http://www.openideo.com/open/voting/inspiration/) where the challenge is in the "Inspiration" phase. Browse through some of the ideas that have already been posted.
Create an account, and you can add your own comments to the discussion, or post an Inspiration of your own.
As experts in elections and accessibility, your input will
help others see elections
through your eyes. We welcome both the practical experience and vision
that you can bring to this challenge.
We’re relying on your input to ensure that the work we do
together is thoughtful, grounded, and has a real potential for impact.
Whitney Quesenbery
ITIF Accessible Voting Technology Initiative
http://elections.itif.org
908-617-1122