Elections Website Ranks High On Disability Access Scale

Hays County Courthouse, San Marcos, TX – Hays County’s Elections Office was recently recognized for its website, both from the local League of Women Voters and Disability Rights Texas (DRTx).

The site ranked fifth out of all 254 Texas counties in terms of ensuring full participation in all aspects of the voting process for people with disabilities.

DRTx, under the Protection and Advocacy for Voting Access (PAVA) Program, evaluated all Texas county websites between January 2019 and January 2020. Reviewers included persons with disabilities.

Anderson invited Molly Broadway, HAVA Training and Technical Support Specialist with Disability Rights Texas, to assess the county’s Vote Centers during the application process to ensure the polling locations met Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance.

Their findings show that Hays County scored in the top five list of county websites based on the following criteria:

• If there is specific elections department information for each county,
• If that information was accessible (via screen reader), and
• If disability-specific information was provided.

Hays scored 87 percent on the assessment. The other counties in the top five were Cameron (92%), Travis (92%), Gray (89%) and McLennan (89%).

For the second consecutive year, the League of Women Voters recognized Hays County with an award for providing accurate, accessible, and useful voter information on a safe and secure election website.

The site received a rating of Outstanding for the 2020 Texas primary election website review.

“Our office is grateful to both the League of Women Voters and Disability Rights Texas for recognizing our website for being both inclusive and accurate,” Elections Administrator Jennifer Anderson said. “Every member of our staff is committed to ensuring all voters in Hays County have an equal opportunity to participate in the voting process.”