People on the forefront of Democracy
This blog is about people. Nice, hardworking people who are literally behind the scenes of our democracy.
Last week OakTree kicked off the Alternate Format Ballot (AFB) generator application project by holding a JAD (joint application development) session with twenty election officials down in Salem. The AFB application project is funded by the Secretary of State’s Office as part of 2002 Help America Vote Act (HAVA).
The reason for the JAD sessions was to solicit county voter office representatives’ wisdom and feedback on how best to configure and deploy the AFB.
The AFB will be an HTML formatted ballot that will be used by blind or otherwise handicapped voters. It can be emailed to them or they will use pre-configured systems in the election offices. By using special browsers (JAWS, etc.) they will be able to vote on their own and in secret. We’ve been told Oregon will be leading the nation with the AFB.
The key in Oregon, it turns out, is the vote by mail “secrecy” envelop. Once the voter has printed the AFB they put it into the secrecy envelop and mail it in. Simple and straightforward.
What was impressive during our four hour JAD session was the people. These election officials deal with hundreds of details and variations in the ballot process, are keenly aware of election laws and are the glue that holds our election process together.
Their concern, knowledge, insights and humor made for a fascinating day. We owe them our thanks.
Last week OakTree kicked off the Alternate Format Ballot (AFB) generator application project by holding a JAD (joint application development) session with twenty election officials down in Salem. The AFB application project is funded by the Secretary of State’s Office as part of 2002 Help America Vote Act (HAVA).
The reason for the JAD sessions was to solicit county voter office representatives’ wisdom and feedback on how best to configure and deploy the AFB.
The AFB will be an HTML formatted ballot that will be used by blind or otherwise handicapped voters. It can be emailed to them or they will use pre-configured systems in the election offices. By using special browsers (JAWS, etc.) they will be able to vote on their own and in secret. We’ve been told Oregon will be leading the nation with the AFB.
The key in Oregon, it turns out, is the vote by mail “secrecy” envelop. Once the voter has printed the AFB they put it into the secrecy envelop and mail it in. Simple and straightforward.
What was impressive during our four hour JAD session was the people. These election officials deal with hundreds of details and variations in the ballot process, are keenly aware of election laws and are the glue that holds our election process together.
Their concern, knowledge, insights and humor made for a fascinating day. We owe them our thanks.
Labels: HAVA, HTML Ballot
posted by John Schmitt at
1:31 PM
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