What is this calculator for?
The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) created the right for voters with disabilities to mark, cast, and verify their ballots privately and independently. To achieve this right, voting locations must deploy at least one accessible voting system per location. One machine per voting location is the minimum number to satisfy the requirements of HAVA. However, having one accessible voting system per voting location may not be enough to accommodate the disabled population that the location serves.
To help election officials and policymakers determine how many accessible voting systems to deploy, this calculator models how many accessible voting machines are needed to minimize wait times for voters. This tool automatically simulates voter wait times based on information entered about a specific voting location, including the steps required to vote, how the location is set up, and the voting equipment used.
How does this calculator work?
This calculator uses simulation modeling to create a digital representation of a voting location and study how it performs under different conditions. The model used in this calculator is based on observational data collected during real U.S. elections and prior academic literature on individuals with disabilities completing tasks similar to voting. Like any simulation model, however, this calculator provides a simplified representation of reality and may not align precisely with real-world conditions in any given jurisdiction. Results from this calculator should be treated as informed estimates rather than definitive conclusions. Replacing the “default” data with a jurisdiction’s specific data can also help improve the accuracy of the results.
To use the tool, you will need:
- Information about the voting location(s) you would like to model, and
- An idea of the question you want to answer. You can use the calculator to:
- Simulate the voting process as it exists now. Using the calculator this way can help you anticipate whether bottlenecks may occur if no changes are made to the voting location.
- Simulate what the process could look like, perhaps with different resources (for example, a different number of accessible voting machines) or a new voting process flow. Using the calculator this way can help you determine whether and how these changes could affect voter wait times.
Ready to get started?
- Read the User Guide for detailed instructions
- Go to the Accessible Voting Machines Calculator to try it yourself
Have feedback for us? We want to hear from you! Email [email protected] to share your thoughts on this tool or other EAC resources.
Frequently Asked Questions:
How should I interpret the results I see?
Once data about a voting location is entered by the user, the tool runs hundreds of simulations and displays the aggregated results. Each simulation is slightly different to account for the many variations of what might happen at a voting location. When combined, the results provide a reasonable estimate of what could happen under a variety of conditions. The results you see in the tool are averages based on all the simulations that were run. Two types of data are shown in the results:
- A table listing the average wait times overall and at different points in the voting process (e.g., check-in, voting, and casting a ballot)
- A table and graph showing the optimized number of voting machines to achieve the desired maximum wait time. These results may include a recommended number of accessible voting machines or a suggestion to increase other resources to reduce wait times.
Why do I get different results when running the same data multiple times?
Since each simulation is slightly different, the aggregated results of all the simulations may change slightly each time, even if the input data stays the same.
Where does the “default” timing data come from?
The “default” timing data was collected during observations at real U.S. voting locations during elections from 2018 to 2024. The voting locations featured many different types of equipment and voting processes.
Where does the default “Voting Age Population with Disabilities (Percentage)” come from?
According to the American Community Survey (ACS), people with disabilities make up 16% of a county’s voting-age population on average. That number is only an average, however, and some counties report more than 30% of people in this age range have disabilities. See the User Guide for more information on how to find specific ACS numbers for a particular jurisdiction.
How long does it take a voter with disabilities to mark a ballot?
Research in this area is limited, but studies looking at how people with disabilities fill out other forms, like tests or surveys, provide a guide. This model also incorporates observational data from voting locations where voters use accessible voting systems, though we do not know the percentage of these voters who had disabilities. For this calculator, we assume that voters with disabilities take between 6% and 32.5% longer to mark their ballot than voters without disabilities.