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E L I Z A B E T H R O S E N Z W E I G

U S E R E X P E R I E N C E C E N T E R

B E N T L E Y U N I V E R S I T Y

The UX of Voting

UX of Voting

Introduction

How Does UX effect Voting

When did this become important?

HAVA

Design for Democracy

MIT-CalTech Voting Project-Voting Test Methodology

NIST

Center of Civic Design

How Does UX Effect Voting

Single Most Important UX Issue of Our Time

Ballot Design

Voting Technology

Polling Places

Instructions for Voting

Result is seen in the leaders

we elect to run our country.

Voting Technology

User Interface design for voting machines is a new idea

Voter Intent has been studied since 1940 but until 2000,but from a political science and psychology perspective

Accessibility issues have only been reviewed and included in the few decades

Traditional Voting Machine

Punch card

Human Factors in Vote Counts

Optical Scan

When Did UX Get Noticed?

Case Study: 2000 USA Presidential Election

Close vote count

Every single votes makes a difference

Design cited as an issue

Accessibility became a clearer issue

The Butterfly Did It: The Aberrant Vote for Buchanan in Palm Beach County, Florida

July 2, 2001

Jonathan N. Wand

Kenneth W. Shotts

Jasjeet S. Sekhon

Walter R. Mebane, Jr.

Michael C. Herron

Henry E. Brady

The Butterfly Did It

“We show that the butterfly ballot used in Palm Beach County (PBC), Florida, in the 2000 presidential election caused more than 2,200 Democratic voters to vote by mistake for Reform candidate Pat Buchanan—a number larger than George W. Bush’s certified margin of victory in Florida. “

2000 Presidential Election

Design errors caused confusion

Hanging Chads

Hanging Chads

Ballot Design

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/12/politics/12VOTE.htmlStudy of Disputed Florida Ballots Finds Justices Did not Cast the Deciding Vote by Ford Fessenden and John M. Broder, published New York Times, November 12, 2001.

Review by independent consortium, looking at the broader group of rejected ballots, found that Mr. Gore might have won if the courts had ordered a statewide recount of all the rejected ballots

“In addition, the review found statistical support for the complaints of many voters, particularly elderly Democrats in Palm Beach County, who said in interviews at the the election that confusing ballot designs may have led them to split their ballots by voting for more then one candidate.”

Help America Vote Act

Help America Vote Act

Human Factors

Design for Democracy

http://www.aiga.org/design-for-democracy/

Ballot Design

Information needs to be clear and presented in an intuitive way. Confused voters are

prone to making mistakes and ruining their vote so it won’t be counted.

MIT-CalTech Voting Technology Project

2001 Began researching issues with Voting Technology

Built on question of human factors impacting voters intent

Understanding voters intent included looking at cognitive load, visual design, interface with technology, election officials human factors

Electronic Voting

Verified Voting

Verifying Votes

VVPAT

Voting Methodology

Voting Methodology

Testing Voter Verified Paper Trail in a Simulated Real World Environment –off election season

Real Poll Workers

Arlington Town Hall- real polling place

Voters with Disabilities

Visual impairment

Audio impairment

Learning disabilities

Accessible Voting

No Consistency at Polling Places

Voting Methodology

Findings History of voting technology has only recently included human

factors considerations, these need to take into consideration all forms of human factors issues

Although voting systems are regulated, there is not enough consistency to assure standards are met throughout system

Key Takeaway Ballot Design makes a difference

Poll Workers and Polling Places need

consistency

Accessible Voting must be improved

and made available

NIST Voting HF Guidelines

Testing methodology for testing voting machines

Validate methodology

Test for accessibility

NIST Voting HF Guidelines

Human Factors Test Suites for Voting Systems

http://www.nist.gov/itl/vote/systemtesting.cfm

Center for Civic Design

http://centerforcivicdesign.org/

Testing Voters’ Guides

Voters’ Guides provide the voter information about ballot questions

Should be written in plain English

Testing whether they are understandable and effective

Voter Guides Study

Upcoming testing on paper guides in Portland, Oregon

Upcoming testing on paper guides in Denver, Colorado

What’s Next

You can be involved

Become a Poll Worker, write about what you see

Connect with Voting Projects mentioned

in the presentation

UX of Voting

How does UX effect Voting

History of design problems in voting systems

Range of projects have been started since 2000

Progress is being made, but slowly.