The McGonagle Reader is an audio assisted tactile voting device designed to support blind and partially sighted people to vote independently. Pakflatt created the McGonagle Reader – named after its creator Patrick McGonagle – in response to directives set out in the UK 2022 Elections Act which made electoral administrators responsible for ensuring equipment is available for blind and partially-sighted voters to vote independently and with confidence.

The McGonagle Reader enables users to vote independently and secretly through tactile profile and system of audio prompts delivered via headphones to guide voters through a ballot paper. Up to 12 windows guide users to a series of round buttons or ‘ringing doorbells’ which can then be pressed to read out the names of individual candidates and further information from the ballot paper. Once the candidate is chosen, an arrow is lifted to guide a vote where to vote on the ballot paper.

In 2024, the McGonagle Reader was put to use in the UK General Election for the first time, but due to flaws in the 2022 Elections Act, it was not universally available. This caused considerable public outrage. The Reader’s promotion and subsequent lack of availability brought access to voting and design’s role in enabling civic participation into focus. As such, the object addresses the lived experience of disabled people in public life and demonstrates the role of design in essential democratic processes.