Usability in Civic Life

Port Chester VotesImproving cumulative voting design

EVN 2011 – Chicago, IL

Whitney QuesenberyUsability in Civic LifeWQusability.com

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Election for Village Board of Trustees

Conducted under court order in Voting Rights lawsuit over fair representation for Latino voters

Introduced cumulative voting

Worked with Fair Vote, who was in charge of voter education

3In-person voting used lever machines

Each candidate had an entire column, allowing for multiple votes.

4Absentee ballots used an array of vote targets

The “dice” ballot provided the 6 voting targets associated with each candidate

Although this ballot was tested, in the actual election, the Village used a ballot that looked more like the lever layout and hand-counted them

5Three rounds of clarifying the instructions

First draft Second draft:Expert updates

Final recommendation:Based on usability test

Focus on what’s new, not routine instructions:Moved cumulative voting to the topCalled it “Voting Instructions”

6Voter education explained cumulative voting

Different voting scenarios illustrated with figures and check marks

Voters said that they understood the concept, but still didn’t know what to do in the voting booth

So…..

7Voter ed updated to show how to vote

For the lever machines(English)

For the absentee ballots(Spanish

Examples showed both the conceptand what it looked like on the ballot

8An idea that didn’t make it

Even voters who understood the cumulative concept sometimes fell back on old habit when in the voting booth.

A proposed concept would put a simple reminder in voters’ hands when they sign in at the polling place.

But

Candidates campaign with their column number, so this could mean “Vote on line 6”

Oops.

Idea dropped. Voters were given regular voter ed materials.

9Lessons learned

Expertise is not enough: observe (and listen to) real voters

Look at any text or design element from all sides to make sure the information is clear

Simpler language is easier to translate (and takes up less room) on a crowded ballot

10Project credits

Village of Port Chester: Mayor Dennis Pilla, Martha Lopez-Hanratty, Joan Mancuso

Fair Vote: Rob Richie, Amy Ngai UPA Usability in Civic Life: Whitney Quesenbery,

Michele Marut, Ronald Cianfaglione

And the citizens of Port Chester who participated in the usability test

11How easily can we learn from users?

Usability testingdoes not have to be formal, lengthy, or expensive.

You don’t need a formal laboratory

100s of participants

special equipment (except for your voting system)

special recording systems

Poster created by Jenny Greeve, Design Fellow, Washington State

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Resource for Election Officials: The Ballot Usability Testing Kit

A kit of materials to help you run usability tests with ballots or other election materials Usability Testing Ballots: What you need to know

Session script

Consent, demographics, and satisfaction forms

Report template

www.usabilityprofessionals.org/civiclife/voting/leo_testing.html

A project of the Usability Professionals’ Association Usabilty in Civic LifeDana Chisnell, Laurie Kantner, Ginny Redish, Whitney Quesenbery, Josephine Scott, Sarah Swierenga

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UPA is an association of professionals with a mission to advance the usability profession through education, information, skill-building and improved methods and practices.

The Usability in Civic Life project promotes usability in elections, plain language and accessibility.

We mobilize usability professionals to participate in projects supporting better election design.

Projects include participation in the Brennan Center’s Ballot Design Task Force, the EAC’s Technical Guidelines Development Committee and the US Access Board’s advisory committee to update “Section 508” accessibility regulations, and work with the Center for Plain Language.