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Ballot Design and Usability
CACEO
Dana Chisnell
December 2008 - Sacramento

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Typical, costly mistakes
in ballot design
Before-and-afters
What can be done

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Typical, costly mistakes

Better Ballots
13 important design features
Brennan Center for Justice

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Key points
Poor ballot design frustrates voters,
undermines confidence, and
contributes to related Election Day
problems
Dana Chisnell

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Key points
Thousands of votes are lost or
miscast
All voters are affected
The risk is greater for some groups
of voters
All voting technologies are affected
Usability testing is the best way to
make sure that voters are
successful
Dana Chisnell

Certain design problems cause errors
• Splitting contests into different
columns
• Placing different contests on same
screen
• Inconsistency in format and style
• Not using shading to help voters
differentiate between contests

Better Ballots: Re-designed Ballot, Kewaunee County
Keep contests
in same
column

Better Ballots: Sarasota County, FL (2006)
One Contest Per Screen for DREs

Better Ballots:
Sarasota Ballot Compared to Charlotte Ballot

Better Ballots: Los Angeles County
Format
consistently

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Before and after

Cedar County:
May 2006 for ES&S
optical scanners

Cedar County:
November 2006 for
ES&S optical scanners

King County: November
2004 for Premier optical
scanners

King County: November
2008 for Premier optical
scanners

Shawnee County:
November 2004 for
Premier optical scanners

Shawnee County:
November 2008 for
Premier optical scanners

TEST BALLOT
GENERAL ELECTION 19
NOVEMBER 4, 2008
MARIN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
INSTRUCTIONS TO VOTERS:
• Use only the marking pen provided, or a ball-point pen with black ink.
• To vote for a candidate, completely blacken the oval next to your choice, like this . Do not vote for more than the
number of candidates to be elected.
• When there are two (2) or more candidates to be elected for the same office, blacken the ovals next to each of your choices.
• To vote on a measure, blacken the oval next to the word YES or next to the word NO.
• Write-in candidates: To vote for a qualified write-in candidate, blacken the oval next to the blank line for the office and write
the name of the person on the line. Do not vote for both a write-in candidate and a candidate whose name is on the
ballot for the same office.
• All distingushing marks on the ballot are forbidden and void the ballot.
• If you make a mistake, tear your ballot, or want to change your vote, return it to the election official and obtain another.
FEDERAL DISTRICT PROPOSITION 3: CHILDREN’S
HOSPITAL BOND ACT. GRANT
PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT MARIN HEALTHCARE DISTRICT, PROGRAM. INITIATIVE STATUTE.
Vote for One Party (1) DIRECTOR Authorizes $980,000,000 in general
Vote for no more than Two (2) obligation bonds for construction,
BOB BARR Libertarian expansion, remodeling, renovation,
WAYNE A. ROOT furnishing and equipping of eligible
JOHN MCCAIN Republican ARCHIMEDES RAMIREZ children’s hospitals. Fiscal Impact: State
SARAH PALIN Neurosurgeon
cost of about $2 billion over 30 years to pay
CYNTHIA MCKINNEY Green PETER CHRISTIAN ROMANOWSKY
off both the principal ($980 million) and
ROSA CLEMENTE Minister/Entertainer/Artist
interest ($933 million) costs of the bonds.
ALAN KEYES American Independent HARRIS (HANK) SIMMONDS
WILEY S. DRAKE, SR. Retired Physician Payments of about $64 million per year.
RALPH NADER Peace And Freedom SHARON J. JACKSON
MATT GONZALEZ Incumbent
BARACK OBAMA Democratic FRANK PARNELL YES NO
JOE BIDEN Physician/Businessman
PROPOSITION 4: WAITING PERIOD AND
PARENTAL NOTIFICATION BEFORE
UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE, TERMINATION OF MINOR’S
6TH DISTRICT PREGNANCY. INITIATIVE
Vote for One (1) MEASURES SUBMITTED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT.
TO THE VOTERS Changes California Constitution, prohibiting
abortion for unemancipated minor until 48
JOEL R. SMOLEN Libertarian hours after physician notifies minor’s
Registered Investment Advisor STATE
parent, legal guardian, or, in limited cases,
MIKE HALLIWELL Republican PROPOSITION 1A: SAFE, RELIABLE HIGH- substitute adult relative. Provides an
College Professor
SPEED PASSENGER TRAIN. exception for medical emergency or
LYNN WOOLSEY Democratic To provide Californians a safe, convenient,
U.S. Representative parental waiver. Fiscal Impact: Potential
affordable, and reliable alternative to driving and unknown net state costs of several million
high gas prices; to provide good-paying jobs dollars annually for health and social
and improve California’s economy while services programs, court administration,
STATE reducing air pollution, global warming and state health agency administration

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NOVEMBER 4, 2008
MARIN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
INSTRUCTIONS TO VOTERS:
• Use only the marking pen provided or a ball point pen with black ink.
• To vote for a candidate, completely blacken the oval to the left of the name, like this . Where two or more candidates
for the same office are to be elected, blacken the oval to the left of each of your choices.
• To vote on a measure, completely blacken the oval next to YES or NO.
• To vote for a qualified write-in candidate, completely blacken the oval next to the blank line for that office and write the
name of the person on the line.
• If you make a mistake, damage your ballot, or you want to change a vote, take your ballot to an election worker and get
another. All distinguishing marks are forbidden and void the ballot.
FEDERAL DISTRICT PROPOSITION 2: STANDARDS FOR
CONFINING FARM ANIMALS.
PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT MARIN HEALTHCARE DISTRICT, INITIATIVE STATUTE.
Vote for One Party (1) DIRECTOR Requires that certain farm animals be
Vote for no more than Two (2) allowed, for the majority of every day, to
BOB BARR Libertarian fully extend their limbs or wings, lie down,
WAYNE A. ROOT stand up and turn around. Limited
JOHN MCCAIN Republican ARCHIMEDES RAMIREZ exceptions apply.
SARAH PALIN Neurosurgeon
Fiscal Impact: Potential unknown
CYNTHIA MCKINNEY Green PETER CHRISTIAN ROMANOWSKY
decrease in state and local tax revenues
ROSA CLEMENTE Minister/Entertainer/Artist
from farm businesses, possibly in the range
ALAN KEYES American Independent HARRIS (HANK) SIMMONDS
WILEY S. DRAKE, SR. Retired Physician of several million dollars annually. Potential
RALPH NADER Peace And Freedom SHARON J. JACKSON minor local and state enforcement and
MATT GONZALEZ Incumbent prosecution costs, partly offset by increased
BARACK OBAMA Democratic FRANK PARNELL fine revenue.
JOE BIDEN Physician/Businessman
YES NO
UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE, PROPOSITION 3: CHILDREN’S
6TH DISTRICT HOSPITAL BOND ACT. GRANT
Vote for One (1) MEASURES SUBMITTED PROGRAM. INITIATIVE STATUTE.
TO THE VOTERS Authorizes $980,000,000 in general
obligation bonds for construction,
JOEL R. SMOLEN Libertarian expansion, remodeling, renovation,
Registered Investment Advisor STATE furnishing and equipping of eligible
MIKE HALLIWELL Republican PROPOSITION 1A: SAFE, RELIABLE HIGH- children’s hospitals.
College Professor

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What can be done

Better Ballots: Limitations
State law Machines Expense History

Better Ballots: What Can Be Done?
• Use a ballot design checklist
• Review old ballots/work with
experts
• Conduct usability testing of
ballots
• Public education/publicize
sample ballots

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Ballot design checklist
Ballot instructions should be brief, simple, and clear
Don’t split contests
Make sure ballot design is consistent
Make ballots easy to understand visually
Give voters maximum flexibility
Dana Chisnell

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1. Plan, minimally
2. Get the team on
board
3. Use the LEO
Testing Kit
4. Recruit
participants
5. Conduct
sessions
Usability testing steps 6. Debrief and
decide

Better Ballots: Sarasota County

Better Ballots: Kewaunee County
Gradual levels of improvement: Elections officials do not have to
implement every design suggestion to improve the usability of their
ballots.

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Best practices ✤ AIGA: Design for
Democracy for
EAC
Guidelines
✤ Brennan Center:
Better Ballots
✤ UPA: ongoing
testing, LEO
Usability Test Kit
Usability testing

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Resources
Usability Professionals’ Association:
www.usabilityprofessionals.org/
LEO Usability Testing Kit:
http://
www.usabilityprofessionals.org/
civiclife/voting/leo_testing.html
Ballot Usability and Accessibility Blog:
http://ballotusability.blogspot.com/
Dana Chisnell

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Resources
Brennan Center for Justice at NYU:
Better Ballots
http://www.brennancenter.org/
content/resource/better_ballots/
AIGA - Design for Democracy:
Effective Design for Federal
Elections
http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/
design-for-democracy-eac-reports
Dana Chisnell