In 2010, New York State used paper ballots for the first time. Unfortunately, a NY League of Women Voters survey after the election found that many voters found the ballots hard to use because of small text, missing instructions, weak separation of contests We’ve created a design concept for a … Continue reading
The business of trying to design better elections has it’s ups and downs. What’s going on in New York State is a good example. Good news. In 2010, New York State switched from lever machines to paper ballots. Bad news. The ballots were, to put it mildly, difficult to read. … Continue reading
A new report from the Brennan Center for Justice concludes that in 2010, tens of thousands of votes in New York did not count because of errors — errors that can be easily caught or prevented to ensure that ballots are marked according to the voters’ intent. They are overvotes–when … Continue reading
On a Saturday in October 2010, a group of Usability in Civic Life volunteered went to five locations to run a flash usability test to learn how New Yorkers marked their new optical scan ballots, especially looking for a kind of error called “double voting” (voting for one candidate under … Continue reading
In the November 7, 2006 election, an unexpectedly large number of people in Sarasota, Florida skipped the congressional election. Where other races, for Senate and Governor had undervote of 1.2-1.4%, the race for U.S. Representative had an undervote of 14.9%. Advocates for voter-verifiable paper audit trails (VVPATs) immediately pointed out … Continue reading
At the time of the election, we heard from people who felt disenfranchised by the ballot itself — voices like the voter who told the South Florida Sun Sentinel, “It was so hard to tell who and what you were voting for. I couldn’t figure it out, and I have … Continue reading
