U.S. Electoral Ballot Redesign

Jean-Pierre Kingsley, Canada's Chief Electoral Officer 1990–2007 Canada has used a national standard for ballot design for over 100 years

at this stage of the project i'm beginning to layout preliminary ballots to use for user testing, and the first step is determining exactly what the content will be. as far as candidates go, my original thought was to use original content, based on either made up names or names of friends/acquaintances. however, i think if the user didn't recognize any of the candidates' names they may just fill out their ballot arbitrarily, thereby negating the benefits of clearer visual communication. another option is to make up names but have them be distinctly party-oriented, such as "danny democrat" or "rudolf republican." however, i think that might become a little repetitive with all the different contests on a ballot. one other option is to use the names of famous or well-known individuals who are not politicians, although this may allow personal bias to affect the user's voting process. i think i may ultimately base the candidates off of the actual candidates who ran in 2012.  as for the issues on my ballots, if i choose to use the actual candidates from the 2012 elections i will also use actual issues. if not, i may make up issues for my prototype ballots. i'm also examining which counties to make ballots for that will give me a wide range of amount of content. 

Field Guide: Testing Ballots for Usability

also, the DRE machines are somewhat costly to install for those states whose civic budgets are already strained. instead, optical scan ballots (where the voter fills in a series of blank shapes on their ballot to cast their vote which is then fed through a counting machine) are the preferred, modern, paper-based method of voting. voting this way is both "intuitive and familiar" for the voter, which can only help the quest for clearer visual communication. also, "In optical scan voting there is a low percentage of unrecorded votes," further aiding the cause. and furthermore, "[with optical scan voting] voting errors—most often incorrect ballot markings—are quickly and easily detected by visual inspection or by the ballot counting machine." based upon all of this research i will be pursuing a optical scan-based design for my new national standard. all quotes taken from Design For Democracy: Ballot and Election Design, produced by the AIGA and written by Marcia Lausen

New York Times feature on ballot design for the 2012 election

research notes from Design For Democracy and Civic Design Field Guides

quick, basic logo for this project. will most definitely be refined!

Larry Norden from the Brennan Center for Justice, quoted in a New York Times feature on ballot design

Research shows a need for clearer visual communication in electoral ballot design in the United States. The current design process, overseen by each individual county’s Board of Elections, leads to poorly-designed ballots affecting the voters’ ability to accurately make their selections when voting. For example, some voters make too many selections in certain contests, and voters also report casting unintentional votes because of unclear mark-making devices on the ballots (such as misaligned punch holes or confusing arrows). A redesign and implementation of a national standard for the electoral ballots in the US will lead to a more democratic process when it comes to voting (a process that is the essence of democracy in and of itself). The redesign will also make the act of voting less complex and intimidating for the user. Through this project, a standard format for ballot design in the US will be developed. This standard will be able to be implemented for any county regardless of its number of candidates or issues. The project will be demonstrated via prototype ballots, in either print or digital or both formats. The target audience for this project is registered American voters, who would be exposed to the redesigned, standardized ballot during elections. User testing will be conducted on a wide range of individuals of all ages (over 18), all genders, all political affiliations, and all income and education levels.  This project will produce a ballot that will not only be more clear than current ballot designs but that can also be reproduced on a national level. In being realistic, the current electoral process in the United States must be acknowledged, as well as the existing guidelines for ballot design (although the project may very well stray from or discard them altogether). In the standardization of the ballots, the project must also consider that elections are held by county, and that some counties will naturally have more items on their ballots than others. If all goes well the redesigned national standard will be able to account for this.