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Coforma
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Public Interest

Future-Proofing Voter Information Website Technology

We partnered with the Center for Civic Design to create AccessibleVoting.net–a visual clone of a previous site they worked on, HealthyVoting.org–built on a modern tech stack for future use and potential replication.

Website Replication

Client Name:
Center for Civic Design (CCD)
Partner Name:
Microsoft Democracy Forward
Delivery Date:
July 2022

We needed to replicate an existing website without significant impacts to the front-end design and user experience.

The Center for Civic Design (CCD) worked with several other nonprofit partners to build HealthyVoting.org leading up to the 2020 election cycle to provide information about what options voters had to vote safely in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For the 2022 election cycle, CCD wanted to create a new website with information about accommodations available in every state to ensure that voters are able to cast their vote safely, independently, and with privacy. Together, we constructed a site with modernized technology to better serve voters seeking accessible options.

The goal of AccessibleVoting.net is to serve voters with disabilities and the Coforma team took that to heart while building the site. They also thought a lot about the longevity and maintenance of the site, which is going to make AccessibleVoting.net a great resource for years to come.
Whitney QuesenberyExecutive DirectorCenter for Civic Design (CCD)

Technology Modernization

We created a future-proofed site while maintaining existing design and ease of use.

During discovery, we determined that the technology underlying the existing site hadn’t been updated in nearly half a decade. To ensure CCD’s ability to both maintain an accessible voting site now and potentially build upon the technology for future sites, the Coforma team worked to migrate the underlying code and data processes to modernized technology solutions while maintaining the original site’s simplicity, accessibility, and ease of use.

We treated the whole project like an agile spike. Sit down, do the work until it’s done. Do it super fast. There’s value in that speed. We gained information that helped iterate the solution by talking through the improvements as we went, and learning what was perceived as valuable. Close collaboration and a strong partnership with CCD made this approach effective.
Derek KinsmanDeveloperCoforma

Modernized Technology, Accessible Web Design

The end result is a new website—AccessibleVoting.net—that looks and functions much like HealthyVoting.org, but is built on a modernized tech stack and ready for future iterations.

Screenshot of AccessibleVoting.net homepage shows a drop down menu for selecting information by state and a text description of Accessible Voting.

AccessibleVoting.net provides information about accessible voting accommodations by state.

Modern, Supported Front-End Framework

Hosted by Vercel, built with Next.js, DatoCMS, and Github, AccessibleVoting.net is the epitome of modern technology.

AccessibleVoting.net displayed on two side-by-side phone screens. Shows text describing accessible voting rights on left screen and a drop down menu with accessible voting options by state on the right.

Both automated and manual accessibility testing was completed, ensuring AccessibleVoting.net worked well for a variety of users, browsers, and devices.

Accessibility Built into Every Detail

The original development team set the stage for an accessible experience by building a design system that included a color palette, color contrast combinations, and branding elements that met WCAG AA standards. While the new site was being built, we used both automated and manual testing—including axe, Wave, and MacOS accessibility tools—to ensure its usability.

Screenshot of the back-end content management system of AccessibleVoting.net. Fields for title, tagline, description label, and additional text are shown.

A streamlined content management system and process expedites updates to AccessibleVoting.net.

Easy Maintenance and Content Updates

The content updates and maintenance processes are the same for AccessibleVoting.net and HealthVoting.org. In addition to using DatoCMS for both, we streamlined the maintenance so that CCD will not need continual development support. This is important as CCD strives to provide real-time updates to information for the public.

Project Team

  • DerekDerek KinsmanLead Developer
  • JaredJared CunhaAccessibility Consultant

Technology

  • Vercel for hosting

  • DatoCMS for content delivery

  • Next.js for app design/development

  • ESlint and Husky for code testing

  • axe, Wave, and MacOS VoiceOver for accessibility testing

Practices

  • Semi-agile development

  • Manual and automated accessibility testing