On August 11, a voter with mobility issues went to cast her ballot in Dakota County. After voting, she called the county elections office to explain her experience.

“She called the elections office, really with tears of joy afterwards, and said, ‘This is the first time in my life I’ve been able to vote independently.’ That experience, absolutely, was very moving for all of us to hear that firsthand experience of how successful that was for a voter,” Michelle Blue, Dakota County election director, recalled.

When Dakota County decided to update its election equipment, county officials reached out to accessibility community partners to personally test each vendor’s equipment options.

“We had some great volunteers who had hearing impairments or visual impairments, and sometimes both, who came and tested out every piece of equipment from every vendor who demonstrated their equipment, and then those voters gave us direct feedback as to how easy the equipment was to use. So their feedback was critical for us in making a decision,” Blue said.

After reviewing the options, Dakota County chose ExpressVote. The county first used the new device during the August state primary.

How ExpressVote works

For people with disabilities, voting itself can present barriers. ExpressVote is designed to help remove those barriers.

“There’s a lot of amenities on the accessible voting device where they can change color contrast and enlarge text. There’s a lot of things that they can do to make it easier to see,” Blue said.
The device can also read an audio ballot, and voters can mark it with a Braille keypad.
For voters who have difficulty filling in a bubble or holding a pen, ExpressVote allows them to mark their choice by touching a screen.

“It’s really helpful for them to be able to mark a ballot because most people can touch a screen, a lot easier than gripping a pen,” Blue said.

At a recent demonstration with high school students who have visual impairments, the students pointed out that one of the best features came when it was time to print and review your ballot before submitting it.

“Someone who is not able to visually see the ballot can’t do that, but what they could do on this machine now is, after it prints the ballot out, you can reinsert that ballot into the ExpressVote, and it will read the selections that were printed on it,” Matt Macekura, election systems manager at Dakota County, said.

Making sure every voter can vote independently

When Dakota County evaluated the devices, officials wanted to make sure they were easy to use.

“For us, every voter should be able to vote independently, and so it’s absolutely critical to us that every voter be able to do that,” Blue said.

When testing the devices, they checked whether they gave clear instructions to the voter, whether the tactile keyboard was easy to use, whether the voter could hear instructions clearly through the headphones, and whether it was easy for someone to plug in their own headphones.
“We have voters that bring their own headphones or their own sip and puff device. We wanted those to be easy to find and easy to navigate for voters,” Blue said.

After reviewing the options, officials found that ExpressVote let voters use the machine without assistance from poll workers.

“On one of the other voting machines we saw, and my experience with that machine, they call it a privacy mask, and to do that you have to interact with the screen by having a poll worker assist with that. On this [ExpressVote], to turn the screen off, it’s simply a button on the keypad that the voter is holding.

So the voter can do it independently without poll worker assistance,” Macekura explained.

Improving the voter experience

Whether a voter is casting their ballot with a pen and paper or ExpressVote, the goal of Dakota County elections remains the same.

“Voting is accessible for every single voter who is eligible and wants to vote, it’s as critical to us as making sure that each vote is secure,” Blue said.

Macekura said the new device is easier to set up and turn on, so it not only helps the voter but also gives poll workers more time to help voters when they need it.

“The old equipment that we had, while it worked well, it took a few steps to set up. There were a few different cords that had to plug in. This one for our poll workers, they plug a power cord into the wall, and they press one button to turn it on, and that’s it. So, they’re not spending as much time stressing about the setup, and they can focus more on actually helping the voters who want to use the equipment,” Macekura explained.

You can test the equipment

As the election on November 3 gets closer, election officials hope people interested in seeing how ExpressVote works will come to their office in Hastings, Minnesota.

“Come see what’s easiest for you. You can cycle through all of the color contrasts, all of the size options. You can test all of that out. And you can certainly do that on election day, but you can also use that in advance of election day and test that before you even come use it here in our office as well,” Blue said.

If you’re interested in testing the equipment, the Hastings office is at 1590 Highway 55, Hastings, MN 55033. They’re open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and you can call them at 651-438-4305.