A Focus Group Study of Blind Voters in Alachua County

Abstract

Of the 15.6 million people with disabilities who voted in the 2012 United States Presidential Election, one- third had difficulties voting at the precinct. This statistic is one of the reasons work continues on Prime III, an all-accessible electronic voting system, designed to be used by all voters, regardless of ability or disability. To describe the current state of voting for disabled voters and identify issues Prime III can further address, focus groups were conducted with the Alachua County Council of the Blind in Florida. Four focus groups were run with 18 participants in total. Preliminary results find that while the current accessible voting machines satisfactorily allow disabled voters to cast their votes, there are features and functions Prime III can provide that are not available now such as voice input, universal access, and privacy. Next steps include conducting focus groups with disabled students at the University of Florida.