Projects

Our projects explore how to design voter information, ballots, poll worker materials, election forms and notices, and voting systems - making them usable and accessible.

Information Design

Information design is the process of making the information you want to share clear, engaging, accessible, and usable. We consider it a core civic design skill.

Poll workers + polling places

Whether it’s at a polling place or a vote center, in-person voting is a cornerstone of the elections process. The folks who run the process — poll workers, election judges, election workers — are a vital extension of your office.

Usability testing

Usability testing is a core civic design skill. Here’s our list of resources for getting started, and examples of how CCD does usability testing in our work.

cover of Field Guide 03: Testing ballots for usability

Voter education

Voters are constantly deciding whether or not to take the next step in the voting process. Make your voter education an invitation to participate.

Ballot design

Ballots that can be marked privately and independently are at the heart of the voter journey.

Plain language

Plain language is one of our core civic design skills. See past projects, tools, presentation, and research to help you build plain language into your work.

Accessibility

ongoing

Accessibility is one of our core civic design skills. See past projects, tools, presentation, and research to help you build accessibility into your work.

Voter Registration

Explore our efforts to modernize voter registration like automatic voter registration, same-day voter registration, and online voter registration.

Signature on a customer kiosk signature pag

Connecting to community groups

Our ongoing research into how community groups and election offices differ in their approaches to increasing civic participation.

3 cartoons of people with different colored speech balloons overlapping

Making great vote center and polling place materials

2017-ongoing

Designing job aids and other materials for election workers
With support from the James Irvine Foundation

Modernizing voter registration with automatic voter registration

Ongoing

Best practices for expanding voter registration and supporting accurate voting rolls.

Vote by mail

Consistent, usable designs for vote-at-home envelopes and instructions
With support from the James Irvine Foundation, Democracy Fund, and the Hewlett Foundation

Language access

How do we design election systems to meet voters’ language access needs?
Project partners: Center for Technology and Civic Life. With support from NIST

Ranked choice voting

Best practices for ballot design, instructions, and election results reporting for ranked choice contests.
Project partners: Ranked Choice Voting Resource Center and Fair Vote

Messages and notices to help voters be well informed

2015-2017

Connecting voters with nonpartisan local voter guides for informed voting
Funded by Knight Foundation
Project partners: e.thePeople, DemocracyWorks

Remote ballot marking systems

Principles for secure and accessible remote ballot marking systems
Funded by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
Project partners: Verified Voting Foundation

Election Toolkit

ongoing

A civic engagement toolkit for election officials: ElectionTools.org
Funded by Knight Foundation
Project partners: Center for Technology and Civic Life

Usability of electronic poll books

2014-ongoing

Usability testing and design guidelines for electronic poll books for poll workers and voters
Funded by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

Voting systems

What is needed to ensure that the next generation of election systems are usable and accessible?
Funded by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

Voter guides and other voter information

2013 - ongoing

Best practices for official voter information guides in California.
Funded by Future of California Elections
Project partners: League of Women Voters Education Fund of California