In summary, additional testing which accurately depicts a voting situation appears necessary to ascertain the potential benefits or difficulties associated with this product and procedure. Any testing should follow standard usability testing guidelines and research procedures.
In her summary, Ms. Theisen says:
As a final point: Assuming a system is accessible, just because it is computerized, is an injustice to the disabilities community.
California owes it to its disabilities community to conduct appropriate accessibility testing on all systems that it certifies for use by people with disabilities. We urge the Secretary of State to conduct an appropriate test of the Vote-PAD for full certification in the near future, and to include appropriate usability testing in its test protocol template for all systems.
We agree with Ms. Theisen. The state of California, just as with every state in the nation, owes it to voters with disabilities to provide them with a voting system that is accessible for as large a portion of that community as possible. The Vote-PAD does that job but the state has unfairly denied that community their rights.
