DC-Area Members: Forum on Accessibility and Security in Voting for People with Disabilities

We are sharing this announcement by the U.S. Elections Assistance Commission for the convenience of readers based in the Washington, DC area who are interested in advancing people with disabilities’ access to the vote.

“2020 ELECTIONS DISABILITY, ACCESSIBILITY AND SECURITY FORUM

Start time: Thu, 02/20/2020 – 9:00 AM
End time: Thu, 02/20/2020 – 3:00 PM America/New_York

As the 2020 elections rapidly approach, the US Election Assistance Commission (EAC) has designed a forum to address growing concerns regarding accessibility and security. This all-day forum will bring together state and local election officials, people with disabilities, disability advocates, and election security experts to discuss issues and advance solutions. The collaborative workshops and EAC’s efforts will assist election officials serving voters with disabilities in the 2020 elections and beyond. EAC commissioners will be in attendance and will play a leading role in promoting collaboration amongst participants.

Moderated by Doug Chapin, Director of the Certificate in Election Administration program at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs, the workshops will strive to identify major challenges and opportunities with respect to accessibility and security in election administration. Topics for workshop discussions will include the 2020 elections and voters with disabilities, ballot-marking devices, proven best practices in voting accessibility, vote-by-mail, paper ballots, cutting-edge assistive voting technology, and polling place access. The EAC is committed to upholding the voting rights of people with disabilities established under the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) amidst growing security needs. This FREE event will take place at the Westin Georgetown, Washington, DC and is open to the public. We strongly encourage you to pre-register but on-site registration on the day of the event will be available if space allows.

Register here.”