Language Access and Accessibility 

Accessible Communications

According to the EAC and Rutgers University report Among voters:

Disability and Voting Accessibility in the 2020 Elections, • 19.3% with a hearing impairment 19.3% of hearing impaired, 23.5% of vision impaired, and

30% of voters with a cognitive impairment reported having • 20.5% with a visual impairment difficulty voting in person at a polling place or elections

office.

• 30.0% with a cognitive impairment

These voters reported difficulty reading or seeing the ballot,

communicating with poll workers or other officials at the Reported having difficulty voting in person

polling place, and writing on the ballot. The Americans with 

Disabilities Act (ADA) requires state and local governments, including election officials, to communicate with

people with disabilities effectively. Election communications must be as clear and understandable to people

with disabilities as those without disabilities.

Election officials must communicate information so that voters with disabilities that impact their hearing,

seeing, speaking, reading, writing, or comprehension can understand. Some election officials are required by

Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) to produce materials in languages other than English.

Recognizing the intersection of language access and disability ensures that election officials produce

materials accessible to all voters when meeting Section 203 requirements.

Case Study: Boone County, Missouri

In 2020, the elections office produced several videos to inform underrepresented voters

about their options for casting a ballot. One popular video featured a deaf interpreter

using American Sign Language to share important information about in-person voting

and other election resources. The elections office harnessed community relationships

to promote the videos.

Case Study: Wisconsin Disability Vote Coalition

Wisconsin Disability Vote Coalition produced outreach materials designed to address

the needs of voters with disabilities who are Spanish speakers. Their multimedia

resources are accessible and include Spanish language captioning. In addition, they

produced a 508 compliant Know Your Rights Factsheet. For more information about

their resources, visit https://disabilityvote.org/.

For more information about voting access for limited English proficient voters, visit:

https://www.eac.gov/language-access-resources

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Language Access and Accessibility 

Media Accessibility Checklist 

Election officials communicate with the public through various forms of media including video, audio, and

graphics. Each form of media has different accessibility requirements. The following checklist will define the

required accessibility features for common types of election messaging outreach.

Completed Media Type Accessibility Features Resources

Video

Captions

Transcripts

Descriptions

https://www.digitalgov.gov/2014/06/30/

508-accessible-videos-how-to-captionvideos/

https://www.section508.gov/cre

ate/synchronized-media/

https://www.digitalgov.gov/2014/06/30

/508-accessible-videos-how-to-makeaudio-descriptions/

Audio Transcripts

https://www.section508.gov/create/syn

chronized-media/

Graphics Alt-text https://www.section508.gov/create/

Websites Sec. 508

Compliance

https://www.section508.gov/test/websoftware/ 

Definitions

Alt-text: Written description of an image.

Caption: Text version of speech and nonspeech audio information synchronized with

audio.

Description: Text or audio that provides

context for essential visual information.

Section 508 Compliance: https://www.accessboard.gov/ict/#E101-general

Transcript: Text version of speech and non-speech

audio information that includes visual information.

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