Accessible Voting was launched in 2022 as a project of the Center for Civic Design (CCD) and Microsoft Democracy Forward and Accessibility. It brings information about accessible voting options to the public, targeting the turnout gap affecting voters with disabilities through inclusive design.
AccessibleVoting.net is a new, future-ready, fully accessible site that shares accessible voting information directly with voters in every state, making it easier for all voters to cast their ballot. We’re honored CCD chose Coforma to help them bring the site to the public. Our team is dedicated to building technology products that improve people’s lives – and in this case, increase their access to equity.
Together, we envisioned a site with modernized technology to better serve voters seeking accessible options. AccessibleVoting.net builds on the success of HealthyVoting.org—a site that was launched in 2020 to help voters in every state find their options for casting their vote, while protecting their health. The Coforma team worked to preserve the experience of the original site for both the public and the CCD team. Simplicity, accessibility, and ease of use were at the heart of our approach to a technology solution that provides an inclusive user experience.
Future-Proofing the Front-End Framework
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 have in order 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 with disabilities are able to cast their vote safely, independently, and with privacy.
We modeled the user experience, look, and feel of the new site after HealthyVoting.org, but completely rebuilt the backend. We wanted to ensure CCD’s ability to both maintain an accessible voting site now and potentially build upon the technology for future sites.
“It had been two years, perhaps a bit longer, since the HealthyVoting.org site was built. The way we think about accessibility in technology and the tools available to create it have changed significantly in that time.” —Derek Kinsman, a developer at Coforma
To understand the viability of the existing technology, we first audited the site’s code. We selected a modern, well-supported front-end framework that would allow us to easily replicate the appearance of the previous site.
Leveraging CCD’s Accessible Design System
The original development team had already built and implemented an accessible design system, which included a color palette, color contrast combinations, and branding elements that met Web Content Accessibility Guideline standards.
We wanted to ensure the design system was leveraged in a way that made the site usable for everyone who needed it. Once we created the modernized site, we used both automated and manual testing to ensure its usability and consistency with CCD’s civic design expertise.
Using the Existing Content Management System
We wanted CCD’s team to be able to make updates and changes to the site easily, using the content management system (CMS) they were already familiar with. Even with new technology added to support the site, it was built to work with their existing CMS. This way, the process for updating and maintaining content remains the same for the CCD team.
Agile Spike Approach to Development
Our team treated the Accessible Voting site development as an “agile spike.” That meant the tech team didn’t know how long it would take to provide the solution, and needed to start working without having all the information at hand.
“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 Kinsman, a developer at Coforma
An Accessible Site Ready to Turn out the Vote
The modern AccessibleVoting.net site is accessible, functional, secure, and ready to use. And importantly, as the 2022 election approaches, there’s no learning curve for the CCD team. They can shape, add, and change content without developer assistance and immediately to bring the most up to date information to voters.
The new code base is also ready for potential replication in the future, serving as a highly usable foundation for future civic design projects and bringing them to launch that much faster.