About this study
The lead author of the study was Lawrence Norden, Counsel in the Brennan Center's Democracy Program, who directs our Voting Technology Project. Co-authors included David C. Kimball, associate professor of political science at the University of Missouri, St. Louis; Whitney Quesenbery, a usability expert who serves on the U.S. Election Assistance Commission's advisory group; and Margaret Chen, a research associate in the Brennan Center's Democracy Program.
The Brennan Center convened a task force of more than a dozen of the nation’s leading usability experts, designers, voting system experts, political scientists, and election officials to assist the authors in reviewing ballots and election laws. The task force included Dean Logan, the acting registrar of voters in Los Angeles County, the most populous county in America; Matt Damschroder, deputy director of elections in Franklin County, Ohio, home of Columbus; and John Lindback, director of elections for the state of Oregon.
In addition to the formal members of the task force, the study group benefited from the cooperation of the American Institute of Graphic Arts and the assistance of the respected New York design studio Chermayeff & Geismar. Numerous attorneys and legal researchers participated in the project, including Naseem Kourosh and Michael Marguiles of the Brennan Center Public Policy Advocacy Clinic at NYU. A more complete account of the authors and participants can be found on pages 4 and 5 of the report.
Design Recommendations
The authors and task force reviewed dozens of ballots from electoral jurisdictions across America and identified 13 general categories of design problems that most frequently interfered with clarity and usability. These included, among others:
- Formatting ballots inconsistently and confusingly, and using bold, shading and other layout aids in counterintuitive ways
- Using instructions and response options that were unclear or incomplete, so that voters weren't sure what to do
- Including candidates who had been disqualified, and publishing sample ballots that did not match actual ballots
- Configuring touchscreen systems in ways that were confusing
From the lessons they drew from specific ballots, which are described in detail in the study, the authors distilled a detailed set of policy recommendations intended to reduce the future incidence of confusing ballots and the attendant voter problems.
The most important recommended reforms were distilled a Ballot Design Checklist, which you can download here (PDF). The checklist includes best practices for the design of both paper and electronic ballots, which are intended to make it easier for people to understand the offices being voted for, find their candidates and choices, and ensure that they vote as they intended.
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Ballot Design Checklist Summary
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. |
For more detailed recommendations, download a PDF version of the ballot design checklist or the complete study.