Accessibility Q&A With BallotReady
Based on an interview with our Front-End Software Engineer Ella Heron.
Introduction
In 2021, we improved our keyboard navigation, logical flow, screen readers and color contrast in BallotReady’s digital voting guide to increase website accessibility. We also added professionally translated languages. Find out what’s new and what’s next:
Q: What is the function of front-end accessibility?
A: Front-end accessibility is the user’s ability to engage with the public side of a website.
Good front-end accessibility means BallotReady spreads access to our tools as broadly as we can. At BallotReady, we are connecting users to our data. Without working accessibility, users have to hear about us through a narrowed, word-of-mouth scenario. Language translations help with this, and we’re currently offering 15 languages for our tools, with more to come!
Q: What specific problems was BallotReady recently trying to solve?
A: When a customer flags issues through their own audit of our CivicEngine accessibility, we know we can improve what developers do at BallotReady. We want to diagnose those functionality issues proactively and not wait for customers to flag them. We are currently addressing accessibility issues around site navigation for screen readers and accessibility tech. Recently, we’ve been assessing CivicEngine’s navigation to make it more friendly for people for vision impairment.
Q: What steps does BallotReady continually take to increase digital accessibility?
A: Our front-end developers on the engineering team are responsible for making sure that the parts of our CivicEngine products site are functioning correctly for users. Most engineers focus on the back-end of the site, but the front-end developer figures out how to translate information to front-end activity (i.e., user-facing functionality). This includes continuous bug fixes, larger-scale features and social sharing updates. Our Customer Success team is always looking for ways to meet customer needs and improve access to our data based on cycles of feedback.
For additional research, skim our Improving Digital Accessibility: Glossary of More Resources post for a web accessibility checklist, map accessibility guidelines, and how we are working to reach more voters.
Summary
BallotReady’s goal is to help every user make the most of our data
Recent updates to our site navigation and screen readers make our tools more friendly to users with vision impairment
Great front-end accessibility helps more users find and engage with our tools independently
Interested in our tools? Let’s connect.