Almost two years ago, I posted an interview in this space on how the teams at Perkins Access and Clear Ballot banded together in an effort to what I wrote as “breaking the inaccessibility barrier” when it comes to voting. Clear Ballot’s ClearMark devices have been rated accessible by the folks at Perkins Access, while the two organizations have collaborated in various ways since 2016. The heart of the pair’s work is predicated on the belief that literally everyone is entitled to an equitable voting experience, regardless of a person’s condition or ability.
“My job is to look at what we can build that solves problems for our customers. Our customers are generally jurisdictions across the United States who want elections. When we think about what should we build, we’re thinking about town clerks, for example, here in Massachusetts. Ultimately, we’re building the equipment that voters are going to interact with when they go to the polling place,” Helen Michaud, Clear Ballot’s vice president of product, said to me in 2022. “We’re thinking about [the] experience for the average citizen. What is it like for the poll worker who volunteers to give up their entire day and support the voting process? We’re trying to think about how we make each person’s role in this as streamlined and as straightforward as it can be, so we can encourage as many people [as possible] to participate in our democracy.”
In a recent interview conducted ahead of the New York primary election held earlier this week, Clear Ballot’s chief technology officer in Chip Trowbridge offered a refresher course of sorts on the Boston-based company. Clear Ballot, he told me, designs election technology that provides “vote-by-mail, precinct tabulation, and post-election results verification solutions” spanning more than 43 million voters in 13 states.
“Clear Ballot was founded with a mission to increase transparency and auditability in elections, which we’ve carried into our in-person and vote-by-mail systems,” Trowbridge said. “We’re committed to providing full-faced paper ballots for all voters, regardless of whether they’re marked by hand or printed from an accessible ballot marking device. This is the most secure option, and it helps all voters cast undifferentiated paper ballots that can be audited, recounted, and voter-verified without QR codes or barcodes, increasing voter confidence.”
As Trowbridge explained, all voting system must undergo “rigorous and extensive testing” during the certification process in order to ensure “all aspects of the system are secure, accessible, and fully functional.” He added whether a system is validated at the state or federal level (or both), they must meet specific standards including those set forth by the Help America Vote Act. The legislation, signed into law by President George W. Bush in October 2002, is described as “[making] sweeping reforms to the nation’s voting process [by addressing] improvements to voting systems and voter access” in the aftermath of the infamous 2000 presidential election between Bush and Clinton vice president Al Gore.
“Rigorous testing standards help build and retain trust in voting systems among voters and election officials because each system is double and triple-checked before a ballot is ever cast in an election,” Trowbridge said about why voter certification matters. “Certification helps verify that our nation’s elections are secure, accessible, and accurate.”
My conversation with Trowbridge and Clear Ballot coincided with the announcement that the company’s ClearMark tech had been certified for use by New York election officials and would be utilized by ballot-goers in 11 counties. Some counties, in fact, expressed optimism the new device would reduce voting time significantly for people, going from a full half-hour to complete a ballot to doing so in a measly 5 minutes.
As I wrote in my original reporting, members of the disability community—myself included—are politically minded and thus wish to participate in fulfilling our civic duty. As with many things societally, doing so historically hasn’t been very accessible. As one personal anecdote, I’m grateful to receive an absentee ballot by mail and privileged to have my polling place located across the street from my house. Nonetheless, the literal process of voting is an arduous one because the ballots themselves are printed in small type and uses a column-based marking system that isn’t easy for my vision to track.
What’s more, that I have to use a pen for markup means a higher propensity for hand cramps and tiredness due to low muscle tone caused by (albeit moderate) cerebral palsy. This was my experience most recently, as last month I voted in California’s primary alongside city-wide issues pertaining locally to San Francisco and San Francisco County. (Fun fact: San Francisco is California’s only consolidated city-county.) Although able to finish my ballot, it was a tiring, time-consuming experience, replete with a handheld magnifier and many expletives, because it’s so difficult for me to negotiate the ballot. Making it stressful still is the notion that asking for help isn’t the best idea during an election. Even amongst the people with whom you’re closest, it’s reasonable to have an expectation of some level of privacy and autonomy without worrying whether the well-meaning person helping is trying to subconsciously sway you to one side of the aisle or the other.
For its part, Clear Ballot is sensitive towards these struggles. The company feels poll workers must be intimately familiar with the voting machines and be ready to assist people whenever the need arises. To that end, Clear Ballot has allocated considerable resources into comprehensive training materials such as brief, easily digestible videos and step-by-step, how-to written guides. Moreover, Clear Ballot also has invested resources beyond the actual voting process itself to ensure that voter outreach materials are as accessible as possible; this includes the Clear Ballot website meeting accessibility compliance. In particular, content on the site includes assistive technologies such as human-generated captions for videos and alt-text for images. As ever, the work is evergreen, but Clear Ballot is committed to improvement over time.
As to feedback on Clear Ballot’s work, Brian Switzer, whom I interviewed for my original article, was super excited to test the technology with the Perkins team because he long yearned for independent voting, especially since, as a Blind person, he relied on help from his brother or wife.
“In a healthy democracy, everyone has the right to vote. And yet, for a lot of people with disabilities, including those with visual impairments, that can be a real stumbling block,” Switzer said of inaccessible voting. “And when our voice isn’t heard, that’s a real issue for our community.”
He continued: “I mostly surround myself with trustworthy people. I’d rather have the independence to vote for myself and not have to explain my vote to anyone. People disagree all [the] time in politics, especially right now. It’s never been so divisive. I’d like to have that right to privacy that everyone else has. Most voting booths have curtains—you can just go in and make your selection and don’t have to point it to anyone. You’re making your best educated choice on your representatives and your positions, and you have a right to privacy when voting.”
Looking towards the future, Trowbridge told me the company is “very excited” to be certified in Virginia and will be bringing the entire suite of ClearVote products to counties there “in the near future.” In addition, Clear Ballot is in the midst of a federal certification campaign which it hopes will enable even more people to use its technology come later this year and into 2025. As to the long-term, Trowbridge said the company is continuing to work with the Perkins School for the Blind on what he called an “all-new voting system” that builds on the work already done with ClearMark. Clear Ballot is also continuing its work in providing accessible voter outreach and education materials given to the public.
“We firmly believe that every single eligible voter should be able to cast a ballot privately and independently and feel confident that their ballot is verifiable, auditable, and captures their true intent,” Trowbridge said. “We look forward to continuing the conversation on how voter-verifiable full-faced paper ballots and accessibility can go hand-in-hand.”