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Your Vote is Your Voice

Accessibility Statement

Electoral Commission Website.

The Electoral Commission was established under the Electoral Reform Act 2022.  It will be independent of Government and take on several pre-existing statutory electoral functions as well as new responsibilities. These include:

  • explaining to the public the subject matter of referendums
  • reviewing Dail and European electoral constituencies
  • reviewing local electoral area boundaries
  • the registration of political parties
  • to conduct research on electoral policy
  • to provide information on electoral processes and encourage participation in the electoral and democratic processes
  • oversight of the Electoral Register
  • regulation of online political advertising
  • the protection of electoral integrity against online political misinformation, disinformation or manipulative and inauthentic behaviour
  • audits of electoral events

This accessibility statement explains how The Electoral Commission, as the Service Provider, will endeavour to meet the requirements as set out in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Version 2.1 at AA Level as defined by the Web Accessibility Initiative.

Our commitment and approach to maintaining an accessible website

The Electoral Commission is committed to:

  • Maintaining an accessible website in accordance with the European Union (Accessibility of Websites and Mobile Applications of Public Sector Bodies) Regulations.
  • Ensuring that this website achieves “Level AA” conformance to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, to comply with the National Disability Authority’s Code of Practice on Accessibility of Public Services and Information Provided by Public Bodies. (The National Disability Authority’s Centre for Excellence in Universal Design has an introduction to policy and legislation relevant to Universal Design in Ireland.)
  • Ensuring that all new information on the website will achieve “Level AA” conformance to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1.
  • Including accessibility when we procure 3rd-party systems or upgrades to existing systems.

How we test for conformance with official accessibility guidelines

The Electoral Commission uses a range of techniques to help providing access for all. They include:

Automated Scanning

Automated scanning provides a quick (but not complete) overview of issues that persons may encounter.

Guidance

Provision of guidance to content editors such as using Alternate Text, Ensuring Heading Levels are correct and other practices.

Manual Review

Regularly performing manual review of each site and adjusting the site to help improve accessibility.

This website’s conformance with official accessibility guidelines

The website currently has a partial conformance to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1. Our most recent web accessibility audit for this website was on 04/01/2023.

Areas for improvement and time-lines

We are aware of some areas on the website where we could improve accessibility. We are currently working to achieve this. We hope that this website will achieve “Level AA” conformance to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 by December 2023.

Noted Issues

  • Site logo. The Electoral Commission logo may not meet a contrast ratio of 4.5:1 or higher in some circumstances.

How to send feedback on this website’s accessibility

We welcome feedback on the accessibility of this website. To submit feedback; please email us at info@electoralcommission.ie.

Accessibility features of this website

A large number of techniques are used to enable the site become accessible for all. The process is ongoing as content changes and the structure of the site changes. Some of the accessible features on this site include (but not limited to) the following:

Alt Text

All Images where appropriate have suitable alternative text to provide a descriptive element to the image portrayed.

Heading Outline Hierarchy

Logical sense applied to headings where possible starting with the Page Title at H1, H2 for subheadings, H3 beneath those where appropriate.

Descriptive Links

Links and Buttons have purpose defined or have descriptive elements or Aria labels where those elements are cannot be provided

Contrast

Reasonable minimums in difference with relation to contrast between foreground elements and background elements

Navigability

Logical structure applied to the website to ensure the site can be used without a mouse

ARIA Landmarks

A large variety of aria- landmarks applied to aid in accessibility

This list is not exhaustive.