Executive Summary

Introduction

On May 3, 2005, the New York State Independent Living Council's (NYSILC's) Election Reform Subcommittee conducted a voting machine survey of the full-face ballot models on display at the New York State Board of Elections Annual Spring Meeting held in Syracuse, New York. The vendors at the event included Automark, Avante, Danaher 1200, Electronic Systems & Software (ES&S), Liberty Vote, and Sequoia Pacific Advantage. NYSILC Election Reform Subcommittee members contacted vendor representatives prior to the event to make sure that accessible features would be available for testing.

Initial Observations

A review of the data identified that the Automark and ES&S systems clearly received a larger number and percentage of the highest scores, "strongly satisfied," versus the rest of the models presented and tested at the event for general "comfort and use." These models also received a smaller number and percentage of the lowest scores (strongly dissatisfied).

However, the data reveals another set of considerations. No system scored "strongly satisfied" on more than 40% of the surveys. In addition, every machine had between one to five testers rate them at the lowest score of "strongly dissatisfied." The ES&S voting machine at the event did not have functional audio or tactile feedback for testers even though companies were notified in advance of the need for these components. Many voters who are blind chose not to test it.