iPads in Oregon Election a Success, Official Says

Oregon’s primary special election last week marked the first time a state used iPads to assist in the voting process. 

The iPads were made available in all or part of five Oregon counties: Washington, Columbia, Multnomah, Yamhill and Clatsop — all located in the state’s northwestern region — to  help voters with disabilities fill out their ballots. The pilot was led by the Secretary of State’s Elections Division.

Eighty-nine voters among the five counties used the iPads to mark their ballots, according to Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown. She said she considers the project thus far to be a success.

“I thought [the pilot] went fabulously,” Brown said Monday, Nov. 14. “I was overwhelmed with the success; we received a much higher usage on this technology than all the years combined we’ve [been] doing accessible computer stations.”

But in at least two counties where the iPad was available, citizens didn’t use them. No one requested it in Columbia County, according to County Elections Supervisor Pam Benham.

Eric Sample, a spokesman for the Multnomah County Elections, said his county didn’t have a chance to use the iPads. The special election covered Oregon’s First Congressional district, but only a small part of Multnomah County is included in the first congressional district

Although the iPads were used to fill out the ballots, they were not used to actually vote. Once a voter completed a ballot, it was printed out by a portable printer, Brown said.

According to local media, election workers took the iPads to assisted living centers to help those who wanted to complete their ballot via the tablet. The workers also brought along the portable printers so the iPad ballots could be counted.

Apple loaned the iPads to the state for the election, but the state has already returned them back to Apple. Oregon will borrow iPads again for during a special general election in January 2012. After the January election is completed, the state will again give the iPads back to Apple, Brown said.

But the state needed more than the loaner devices for voters to fill out ballots. Software was put on the iPads for the voting process, which cost the state $75,000. Brown said the state plans to use the software in the future to provide accessible voting for military personnel and citizens who are overseas.

On Brown’s official blog, one Washington County resident said that using the iPad was a better alternative because the size of the print can be adjusted to read the ballot more clearly. The resident stated that she plans to use the iPad voting option for January’s election.

Next year the state plans to survey the disabled persons who used the iPads during the elections to determine whether or not they liked using the technology. So far, the iPad has garnered positive results, Brown said.

However, in one instance Brown said a voter with cerebral palsy ran into difficulty because the proper control device wasn’t available to help him mark the ballot on the iPad. Brown said that piece of technology will be made available to the voter in the January election so he can then use the iPad.

Brown said the state hopes, in the future, that the iPads will have language translation capabilities and the ability to read the ballot out loud.

The state elections office would also like the iPad option to be made available statewide in the future, which would require available the tablets for all 36 of Oregon’s counties, Brown said.

“First we want to hear from the disabilities community that iPad [assisted] voting is convenient and accessible, Brown said. “And then we simply need to purchase the iPads for the surrounding counties.”