How might we design an accessible election experience for everyone?

Some of you might be interested in this open innovation challenge.

Andi Snow-Weaver


----- Forwarded by Andi Snow-Weaver/Austin/IBM on 02/14/2012 03:53 PM -----


From: Castro, Daniel [mailto:dcastro@itif.org]
Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 4:10 PM
To: Castro, Daniel
Subject: How might we design an accessible election experience for
everyone?

Dear C-C-D Members,

My think tank has launched an online “open innovation challenge” where
people are invited to share ideas to answer the question “How might we
design an accessible election experience for everyone?”

It is important that many different communities participate so their voices
are heard.

Can you help us get the word out to individuals who might be interested in
participating?  Everyone is welcome.

Thanks.

Daniel Castro
ITIF Accessible Voting Technology Initiative
dcastro@itif.org

***

How might we design an accessible election experience for everyone?

We are calling on everyone, including voters, non-voters, election
officials, people with disabilities, designers, engineers, and students, to
help us make elections more accessible for everyone.

We invite you to join us in this challenge.

Read more below or visit us at:
http://www.openideo.com/open/voting/brief.html


What is the challenge?
We are searching for creative answers to the question: How might we design
an accessible election experience for everyone?

Here’s how the process works. We start by trying to better understand the
problem. Over the next few weeks, everyone will be invited to help us
research the issues and share their experiences. We are sharing stories,
insights and examples of voting systems or experiences that might relate to
elections and accessibility.

In a few weeks, we’ll start focusing on brainstorming solutions. Along the
way, there will be opportunities for feedback and to refine concepts and
solutions.

You can join the challenge at any time. The dialogue will be ongoing until
we pick our winning concepts at the end of March.

Who should participate?
Everyone is encouraged to participate. Everyone. That includes you!

To participate, go to: http://www.openideo.com/open/voting/brief.html


Why are we hosting this challenge?
We believe elections can be made more accessible for people with
disabilities and anyone else who faces barriers to participating in
democracy.

All of the ideas generated by this challenge will be made freely available
to anyone who wants to implement them. For example, Los Angeles County
elections officials will be following this challenge in their pursuit of a
modern voting system. In L.A. County alone, your ideas during this
challenge can help improve the voting experience for 4.5 million voters.

Who is hosting the challenge?
The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) is a non-profit
think tank at the cutting edge of designing policies that will boost
economic growth and improve quality of life in the United States and around
the world. The ITIF Accessible Voting Technology Initiative is a project
funded by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to make voting
processes and technology more accessible. We are partnering with OpenIDEO
on this challenge. OpenIDEO is an open innovation platform that taps into
the scale of social networks to tackle challenges for social good. This
challenge is one way we are exploring new ideas for improving elections.
For more about our project, go to http://elections.itif.org.


What should you do next?
To start, read the challenge brief (
http://www.openideo.com/open/voting/brief.html) to get a sense of the scope
and direction for the challenge.

Then head over to OpenIDEO (
http://www.openideo.com/open/voting/inspiration/). Browse through some of
the ideas that have already been posted. Create an account, and you can add
your own comments to the discussion, or post an Inspiration of your own.
We’re relying on your input to ensure that the work we do together is
thoughtful, grounded, and has a real potential for impact.
Having trouble getting started?  Check out our tips for how to create your
first post.