[blindlaw] Accessible Voter Registration forms

[James Pepper]

Mr. Krugman:

Here are the forms.   They are mutilple page PDF documents that work with
JAWS without JAWS getting lost.  I tested this with JAWS 9 and JAWS 10 but
my forms also work with JAWS 8, Pat Pound (below) used JAWS 8 on some of my
forms.

I was in contact with Tony Candela at DOR for California.  My forms were
tested by the American Foundation for the Blind.  You will need Adobe Reader
versions 8 or 9 to interact with these forms.  They were designed to work
with JAWS.  The files are made to be downloaded and saved on a user's
computer and then filled out, and they can save the file and reopen it and
correct their mistakes and then they can digitally sign the document, print
it, place their written signature on the forms and then send it back to the
state.

I made the National Voter Registration form accessible to JAWS and Darren
Burton of the American Foundation for the blind tested them and found they
worked in JAWS and Window Eyes and so he sent them to the Secretary of State
of West Virginia for this election. Darren is blind.

AFB TECH
949 Third Ave. Suite 200
Huntington, WV 25701
(304) 523-8651

Also James Dickson Vice President of the American Association of People with
Disabilities presented my forms to the Elections Assistance Commission.  He
is blind.

And Pat Pound who was on the National Council on Disability and was
executive Director for the Texas Governor's Committee on People with
Disabilities, I worked with her on two forms for her that she said she had
never been able to get anyone to make accessible.  But I solved the problem
and they are now accessible to the blind.  Pat is blind.

And if you need another opinion, you can contact Ann Taylor who is in charge
of testing new technologies for the National Federation of the Blind.  I
have not tested my Voter Registration forms with her but she has seen other
forms that I have made and she is an objective source.

The forms are designed to be downloaded and filled out on the user's
computer so you do not have to worry about time limits or the 600 second
rule resetting the form.  The 600 second rule is when the servers reset due
to signal degredation and this usually resets screen readers and other
devices thus giving the blind a time limit on filling out online forms that
most people do not realize is present.  This is particularly a problem with
html forms and the problem is with hardware.  So the solution is a
downloadable form and that means a PDF document.

The form can be filled out, saved, opened again, filled out, corrected and
saved, and digitally signed so the user has a copy of what they sent that
they can access, and it can be printed and signed.  States require a written
signature.  I have a form with two digital signatures enclosed.

The Voter Registration form is actually two forms and so each form occupies
one page of the document so each form can be signed individually.

Also enclosed is the papertool Section 508 compliance document from the
Access Board where I comment on my form and the National Form which they
claim is accessible but it was made on a MAC so it cannot be read properly
on the Windows Platform.  Since JAWS and Window Eyes are Windows based
programs, designing on a MAC is useless for accessibility.

I can make the font larger if you wish, I set them at Arial 12 points.

The instructions are a separate file because you can have them open and
switch between open documents and not loose your place.  You can use JAWS or
Window Eyes or you can use the built in Read out Loud feature of Adobe
Reader to read the instructions.  For the forms you can use JAWS or Window
Eyes or Microsoft Narrator to use the form and since both documents can be
open at the same time, you can use both programs simultaneously moving back
and forth between the instructions and the form.

This eliminates the common problem in government forms where you have to
move into a form field, then find the instructions and then go back to the
form field.

Also I consolidated the instructions into steps which correspond with the
steps in the form.  The EAC, the Elections Assistance Commission National
Voter Registration Form contains all the instructions and the form in the
same document and their instructions are broken up into three sections, all
of which must be read to fill out each form field and the instructions are
split up before and after the form.

So my solution makes it faster.

I had tunnel vision in college and I received most of my sight back so I
know what is needed for a comprehensive solution.

My form is made so that it has to be printed and signed.  I have a version
with two digital signatures and this file is enclosed
Accessible_Voter_Registration_FormDS.pdf  It is the ideal solution, becasue
it can be emailed to the state.  I would have to change the instructions for
the form, the enclosed instructions file are for the form that you have to
sign with a written signature.

Both forms can be sent by email and the data from the form can be extracted
as a CSV file which can be dropped into a database.  This is Adobe's
technology.  So the signed form can be opened electronically and the
information can be processed and the state can then await the
written signature on the form to finish the registration, so you do not have
to abandon the paper trail.

They are encrypted; part of the process of saving the file enables the
interactive features so there is no way to get around the encryption.  If
people fear tampering with the form, the form data can be extracted using
Adobe Acrobat Professional versions 8 or 9 and that can be done very easily
to test the file to find out what is being asked and what the output of the
data would be.  I do not know how one would hack this but I imagine Adobe
has a lot to say about their 256 encryption.

If you have any questions just ask.

Sincerely,

James G. Pepper
214-360-0622
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