Postal voting application, now with CAPTCHA

[lilacsigil]

There is a federal election in Australia next month, and in Australia voting is compulsory. Every election, this brings about major accessibility issues - we vote with pencil and paper, so people with visual impairments are immediately disadvantaged, and the fixes for this are crude and rely on either not having privacy to vote or the goodwill of electoral staff. Voting centres (usually schools and public halls) are often not accessible or only partially accessible to people with mobility impairments.

For this reason many disabled people choose to postal vote instead. In my case, I will be working all of election day, so I am going to postal vote. The application form is online, which is great - previously it has been on paper - so I filled it out, only to run into a CAPTCHA at the end. Since forms have to be filled out with correct personal details and then a secret question answered on the actual physical form, I cannot imagine why a CAPTCHA is necessary or helpful. It's a great hindrance to me - and when I went to the feedback form to lodge a complaint, there was a CAPTCHA at the bottom of that too!

Comments

[amadi]

I've posted often about the accessibility issues with voting in my location in Pennsylvania in the US. To be able to vote by mail on a permanent basis because your disability doesn't allow you to go to the polls, or because your polling place is inaccessible based on your disability, you have to have your doctor provide validation of your disability to the county. And you have to reapply for a "permanent" disability status every four years (just in time to have problems in presidential elections). The only highlight here is that a voter may request help in the voting booth or in completing a mail in ballot from anyone they wish.

Is anyone anywhere doing accessible voting correctly? My guess is Oregon (which is all vote by mail) may be the only place.

[lilacsigil]

You have to have a doctor's certificate? That's awful! What a burden on you!

NSW trialled accessible electronic voting for visually impaired people at their last state election, but no-one knows if they're going to expand that or not.

[amadi]

Not only do you have to get a doctor's signature, they have to give information about the nature of your disability and why it prevents you from voting in person. Not only is this an invasion of privacy, the county elections office does not have a compliance statement available regarding HIPAA, our broad medical privacy law, which leads me to believe that they are not aware of federal mandates on how such information is to be stored, accessed, used and shared.

Our electronic voting machines are claimed to be accessible to people with visual difficulties, but my visually inpaired mother (who successfully uses a tablet and smartphone without accessibility provisions enabled) always needs help completing her ballot. They're also touchscreens, so inaccessible to those with motor issues or dual amputees.

[treeowl]

Touchscreens are inaccessible to a huge number of people for various reasons. I don't have any disability that interferes with their use, but I'm still always nervous about using them to vote.