Department of Motor Vehicles and NYC Board of Elections will Improve Voting Accessibility

Submitted by Mz22 on April 10, 2019 - 12:53pm

February 2019 - In 2016, two voters with vision loss filed a lawsuit arguing that the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) website, and the New York Board of Elections website (NY), were both incompatible with screen-reader software. The assistive devices were unable to read several pdf and “fillable” forms on the sites. As a result, these voters were forced to have these forms printed and have sighted assistance in order to fill them out. The court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and found that this was a violation of privacy. As a result of Eason et al. v. New York State Board of Elections (1:16-cv-4292), the DMV and the NY state Board of Elections are required to make their websites compatible with screen-reader software by the end of 2019 They must also ensure that online voter registration documents comply with the ADA’s web content accessibility guidelines. [Source: NextGov]

Additional Information

New York's Online Voter Registration Will Become Accessible to Blind Voters
Date of Publication: 
Wednesday, April 10, 2019

Disclaimer

The contents of this website were developed under a grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR grant number 90RE5025-01-00). NIDILRR is a Center within the Administration for Community Living (ACL), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The contents of this website do not necessarily represent the policy of NIDILRR, ACL, HHS, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.