Technology, Power, and Political Participation: A Critical Analysis of the Accessibility of the South Sulawesi General Election Commission (KPU) Website for Blind Voters in the 2024 South Sulawesi Governor Election

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-613-0_32How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Digital accessibility; Visual impairment; Technical evaluation; Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG); Political participation

Abstract

This study evaluates the digital accessibility of the South Sulawesi Provincial Election Commission (KPU) website for visually impaired users. Focus on how the website meets accessibility standards and what barriers blind users face when accessing election information. A qualitative approach is applied through user experience simulation and technical evaluation based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1. The study involved two visually impaired students: Muhammad Satria Dwi Julianto, who is completely blind, and Muhammad Informan MA, who has low vision. Both participants conducted a direct test of the KPU website using screen readers and other auxiliary technologies. The evaluation examined key aspects of accessibility, including alt text, navigation structure, multimedia access, and compatibility with assistive devices. The findings show that although the KPU website includes some accessibility features, the main barriers still limit access for visually impaired users. These barriers include the loss of alt text for images, complicated navigation, and inaccessible video content due to the absence of subtitles and sign language interpretation. These issues limit equal access to election information and undermine the political participation of people with disabilities. The study recommends improving alternative text, simplifying navigation, and improving multimedia accessibility to create a more inclusive election information system. The findings highlight digital accessibility as a fundamental political right and contribute to the development of future policies on inclusive election information services.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Hasbullah Hasbullah
AU  - Hasbi Marissangan
AU  - Rahmat Muhammad
AU  - Ishak Salim
AU  - Muhammad Ashar
AU  - Muh. Ilham Dhani
AU  - M. Ilham
AU  - Muhammad Satria Dwi Julianto
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/04
TI  - Technology, Power, and Political Participation: A Critical Analysis of the Accessibility of the South Sulawesi General Election Commission (KPU) Website for Blind Voters in the 2024 South Sulawesi Governor Election
BT  - Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Linguistics and Cultural Studies (ICLC-6 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 402
EP  - 414
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-613-0_32
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-613-0_32
ID  - Hasbullah2026
ER  -