Designing a ballot: art AND science

IACREOTJuly 1, 2015

Designing a Ballot:A work of art AND science

Whitney QuesenberyCenter for Civic Design

Sharon LaskowskiNIST

IntroductionsWho are we?

Sharon Laskowski

Research and guidance for improving the usability and accessibility of voting systems since 2002

NIST and the Help America Vote Act 2004 report: “Improving the Usability and

Accessibility of Voting Systems” VVSG: Usability and accessibility requirements

and testing Research for next generation of voting and

election systems

[email protected] vote.nist.gov

Whitney Quesenbery

Center for Civic Design: Ensuring voter intent through design. We do research on how voters get information and use ballots and other election materials.

Member of the TGDC, worked on VVSG 1.0 and draft 1.1

Field Guides to Ensuring Voter Intent The Anywhere Ballot Best practices for voter guides

[email protected] civicdesign.org

Raising the bar for usability and accessibility How far have we come?

From 2000 to 2015

Design makes a difference to voters...

...and can affect election outcomes

Better Ballots (2008)

Design Deficiencies and Lost Votes (2011)

Better Design: Better Elections (2012)

A few more examples of design having an impact on election results

Year Where What

2000 Florida Butterfly ballot

2002 Sarasota A contest "hidden" at the top of the page led to undervotes

2006 Arkansas Tall people selected candidate below their choice due to touch screen angle

2008 Missouri Inconsistent labels led to more undervotes for one contest on a ballot

Message matter, too

Unclear messages on optical scanner caused submission of many “overvoted” ballots.

- New York 2010

Proposed revision to the overvote message. An updated version was implemented.

There is guidance and research for good ballot design

VVSG has both design and performance standards (usability testing)

AIGA Design for Democracy www.aiga.org/election-project/

Center for Civic Design Field Guides EAC Accessible Voting Technology Initiative

Anywhere Ballot EZ Ballot PRIME III voting system primevotingsystem.com/ Summary in Accessible Voting Technology Portal

vote.nist.gov

Future visionsA roadmap for next generation voting system guidance for usability and accessibility

Why now? New technologies, new research, new laws,

and new elections procedures since the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines were writte

Changes to the state of the art and technology for voting systems

Changes to public expectations about how voters will participate in elections

“Voting should be the most convenient government service as voting is a right and not just a privilege.” - Stephen Booth, NFB

Goals for the usability and accessibility roadmap

A path forward to

Raise the "usability IQ" in elections

Make systems more usable for everyone

Guidance in the right form for the right purpose (not just certification requirements)

Who is developing the roadmap?

NIST, Center for Civic Design, and the election community

Think about the entire voter journey

Learn: Voter questions

Do: Voter activities

Use: Election systems

People: Voters interact with

Policy: Election law

The roadmap:

Priorities and objectives through the entire process

VotersPoll workers

Election officialsSystem

designersSystem testersVoter advocates

Support the design

process

Engage voters effectively

Address the entire voting journey

Support evolving technology

Provide useful guidance &

standards

Improve testing in

certification & design

Many forms of guidance work together

Draft report: civicdesign.org/projects/roadmap/

New technologyRevisiting the guidance and standards

Everyday technology has changed...

The explosion of mobile devices came after the VVSG 1.0 and 1.1 were drafted

I feel like technology is finally catching up with what I truly need.

Glenda Watson Hyatt DoItMyselfBlog.com

New technology can let us include more people in base voting systems

Push the boundaries

From usability to accessibility, minimizing the need for accommodations or assistance

Election design principles Create a clear, linear flow through the ballot. Use language that is simple and easy to

understand. Make the ballot look easy to read. Prompt voters with actions and choices. Provide immediate feedback to all actions. Make it easy to fix mistakes. Support users’ preferences and accessibility

needs. Give voters control of all actions that make or

change a ballot selection.

Plain interactionSimple linear flow

Better

Voters can miss instructions that are on the side of the screen because they are focused on the main interactive area.

Scrolling

VVSG 3.2.6.a The electronic ballot interface shall not require page scrolling by the voter

Easier

Scroll bars are difficult for many to understand and useBut swipe gestures on mobile devices are more intuitive.

Alternatives to scrolling

Make the controls visible and part of the linear flow.

Break content in the middle of a line to show that there is more information.

Plain language43% of adults can only read simple sentences.

From the National Assessment of Adult Literacy

Plain langageClear, unambiguous words

BeforeReview your choices

Better

AfterReview what you're voting for

Font sizes

VVSG 3.2.5.d A voting system that uses an electronic image display shall be capable of showing all information in at least two font sizes: 3.0-4.0 mm and 6.3-6.9mm

Font and typography

VVSG 3.2.5.f Text intended for the voter should be presented in a sans serif font.

http://www.terminaldesign.com/fonts/clearviewada-complete-family/

Contrast

VVSG 3.2.5.a - Minimum uniform diffuse ambient contrast ratio for 500 lx illuminance: 10:1

WCAG 2.0 - The visual presentation of text and images of text has a contrast ratio of at least 7:1

This is 7:1

This is 10:1

This is b&w

What could a ballot look like?Research inspired design

EZ Ballot

Georgia Tech – CATEA

Ballot Marking Device

OSET Foundation

Anywhere Ballot

Center for Civic Design | Oxide Design Co

E-pollbooks – examples of new design

Election Administrators EveryoneCounts

Votec

KnowINK

Robis Elections

Invite everyone into the process

Photos: ITIF AVTI/CATEA

Ballot design can delight votersStart from election design principles

Meet voters' needs for easy interaction, plain language, and clear design

Test with voters

Thank you.

Sharon [email protected]

Whitney [email protected]@civicdesign @whitney

www.slideshare.net/civicdesign