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Audit

Audit  Audit of the Executive Office of the Trial Court

Our office conducted a performance audit of the Executive Office of the Trial Court (EOTC) for the period July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024.

Organization: Office of the State Auditor
Date published: August 6, 2025

Executive Summary

In accordance with Section 12 of Chapter 11 of the Massachusetts General Laws, the Office of the State Auditor has conducted a performance audit of the Executive Office of the Trial Court (EOTC) for the period July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024.

The purpose of our audit was to determine whether EOTC’s website adhered to the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 for user accessibility, keyboard accessibility, navigation accessibility, language accessibility, error identification, and color accessibility.

Below is a summary of our finding, the effect of that finding, and our recommendations, with links to each page listed.

  
Finding 1EOTC’s website was not fully accessible to all website users.
Effect

Possible effects of noncompliance with WCAG 2.1 in the areas discussed above include the following:

  • Regarding user accessibility, if webpage content cannot be zoomed in to 400% without losing functionality, then users with visual impairments may be unable to access needed information.
  • Regarding keyboard accessibility, if functional elements on a webpage cannot be navigated using only keyboard commands, then users with limited motor abilities may be unable to navigate to needed information.
  • Regarding navigation accessibility, broken or faulty hyperlinks negatively impact the user experience and make it difficult to locate specific, sought-after information. They can also limit equitable access to critical information and key online services for some users. Plus, broken or faulty hyperlinks also increase the likelihood that users may access outdated or incorrect information or may be directed to webpages that no longer exist.
Recommendations
 
  1. EOTC should address the loss of functionality when zoomed to 400%.
  2. EOTC should work to resolve accessibility barriers that prevent certain features from being used with only keyboard commands.
  3. EOTC should review its webpages to ensure that all hyperlinks lead to intended information and that they provide equitable access to critical information and services that EOTC offers online.

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