Election information for all visually impaired people! The site "Yahoo! JAPAN Audible Elections" is now live.

Yahoo ! Japan launched " Yahoo! JAPAN Hearable Elections " on June 22, a site enabling visually impaired individuals to access election bulletin information using screen-reading software.

As its first initiative, it published election bulletins, policies, and party manifestos for candidates in each district for the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election on July 2. It also features column articles introducing trends in the Tokyo election and survey results from political parties on various issues, including challenges to election participation for the visually impaired.

According to the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (2012), 91.7% of visually impaired individuals use the internet, accessing information via screen-reading software. However, election bulletins published online are typically image-based PDFs rather than text data, making them inaccessible to conventional screen readers. This site was launched to address the demand for "equal access to election information for all voters" and to bridge the information access gap.

The company hopes that through using this site, visually impaired individuals will find it easier to access election information, and that it will prompt users to consider the diverse information environments surrounding them.

Yahoo! JAPAN Audible Elections: https://kikoeru.yahoo.co.jp/