Democracy is a design problem (Princeton Library)
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At the Princeton Public Library Whitney Quesenbery from the Center for Civic Design talks about how the center’s work is changing how we think about designing for elections, an area of government that blends extreme service design with bureaucratic constraints. The Center’s user-centered approach follows the voter journey from deciding to register to vote to learning the results of an election. We’ll look at how better design of ballots, voting systems, voter registration, voter guides, web sites, and other election materials works better for voters. Presented with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities
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Democracy is a design problem (Princeton Library)
- 1. Democracy is a design problem Whitney Quesenbery Center for Civic Design @civicdesign | @whitneyq Princeton Public Library Humanities Lecture Series October 4, 2016
- 3. How hard can it be to vote?
- 4. “I don’t even know where to go to find out where I’m supposed to vote.” Silvia, new citizen. Didn’t vote in 2012.
- 5. A civic literacy gap between “What I know” and “What I need to know”
- 6. “I do have one question. What do you actually do when you vote?” 18 year old, Baltimore
- 7. A brief history of the last 16 years
- 8. It's about the journey
- 9. Preparing Planning To the Polls Marking Casting Results Learn, Do, Use + People, Policy
- 10. California Voter Bill of Rights Read it online: http://civicdesign.org/projects/how- voters-get-information/ provisional ballot
- 11. Updated for the 2016 Primary
- 12. Solve wicked problems by thinking beyond the “artifact”
- 13. 1. How do I register to vote How might we make this first step in preparing to vote easier
- 14. Voter registration forms – old style
- 15. Voter registration forms (improved)
- 18. Civic design tactic 1 Change the question and change the process
- 19. 2. Where and how do I vote? How might we give voters the information they need to plan their participation easily and effectively.
- 20. Voter guides What's in this guide?
- 21. Top questions for voters
- 22. Pocket guide for voters
- 23. Civic design tactic 2 Answer the right questions (in the right format)
- 24. 3. Where is my polling place? How might we help voters know where to go and get to the right place at the right time?
- 25. Answers can be everywhere
- 26. Civic design tactic 3 Distribute civic data widely so it can be everywhere
- 27. 4. What’s on the ballot? How can we engage voters in the decisions they will make on Election Day?
- 28. What does this even mean? This constitutional amendment would provide that the method of selection and appointment of certain municipal court judges would be set by statute, rather than be provided for in the Constitution. These judges may include judges of joint municipal courts and judges of central municipal courts with jurisdiction extending to the territorial boundaries of a county. This constitutional amendment does not preclude the possibility that a statute would continue to provide for nomination by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate, but it does permit a statute to set forth another method of selection and appointment that may not involve the Governor and the Senate.
- 29. Do you vote YES or NO? Shall the California Constitution be changed to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry providing that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California? A YES vote on this measure means the California Constitution will specify that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California. A NO vote on this measure means: Marriage between individuals of the same sex would continue to be valid or recognized in California.
- 30. Could it be this be any clearer?
- 32. Civic design tactic 4 Close civic literacy gaps with plain language and design
- 33. 5. How do I mark my ballot? On the voter journey: Marking your ballot and Casting your ballot
- 34. So many ways to make mistakes
- 35. Why not mark your ballot anywhere?
- 36. Los Angeles leads the way
- 37. Civic design tactic 5 Make the process easier
- 38. Ways to design (better) democracy Change the question and change the process Answer the right question not every question Distribute civic data widely make it easy to enlist allies Close civic literacy gaps participation requires understanding Make the process easier meet people where they are
- 39. Get in touch! Whitney Quesenbery whitneyq@civicdesign.org @whitneyq civicdesign.org @civicdesign
- 40. Thank you.
Editor's Notes
- Thanks
- A few years ago, we were doing some research with new voters – people who had turned 18 just in time for the 2012 election, and new citizens who were able to vote for the first time. It wasn’t a very large study – just 15 people – but out of those 15, three of them… that’s 20% had wanted to vote. Had tried to vote. And hadn’t been able to. Let me give you an example. Silvia and her family, from South America, had recently become citizens. They were eager, excited to vote and had registered to vote at their naturalization ceremony. But as Election Day got close, they had a problem. They couldn’t find the voter registration cards they had been given. They assumed it was like an identity card – that the piece of cardboard was intrinsically important. (she said)… that neither she nor her father went to vote, because they assumed they would not be allowed.
- They remembered that the polling place was on the back, but had no idea how to even find out where to go to. In their experience – in their former country – “You really want to vote.. It’s really serious. You want to pick a winner because backing a loser can mean you lose your job.” But without that card, and the information on it, they were lost. And so they didn’t go vote.
- It’s not apathy or disinterest or even lack of trust – though there’s plenty of this to go around. The real problem is a yawning civic literacy gap. That is made even wider by the poor design of the election experience and the materials we give to voters. People who can talk enthusiastically, even eloquently about he power of democracy and the value of having a voice are too easily tripped up and disenfranchised by how difficult we make it to participate in this foundation of our government: voting. Even people whose parents vote, like a young college student in Baltimore. At the end of an extended conversation about hs family and voting, he turned to me and said…..
- We hear these basic questions about the mechanics and logistics about the simple act of voting all the time. They come from first-time voters. They come from new citizens. When we tell someone that marking a ballot is like filling in a standardized test, why are we surprised when they ask “How long do I have to be at the polling place?” Because you don’t just get through a test – or any of the many government offices that go along with the naturalization process -- in just a few minutes. Some just duck the question. One young woman I talked to in Modesto, California told me “I don’t know too much about voting. That’s why I stopped doing it.”
- Individual factors – The journey individual users experience using civic technology Digital factors – The impact of the digital environment upon the user journey Environmental factors – The cultural, social and institutional environment in which the technology and individual user operates.
- Learn: Voter questions Do: Voter activities Use: Election systems People: Voters interact with Policy: Election law