Ballot design and the intersection of constraints

There’s actually nothing simple about voting in the United States — especially interacting with ballots. We have the most complex ballots in the world. We ask much of voters.

So when voters encounter poor ballot design, they make mistakes. Regardless of age, education, or voting system used, we lose votes because of ballot design and instructions. The elections world has learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t in ballot design over the last 10 years. Today, we release a brief report that rolls up some of the history, constraints, and options about ballot simplicity, constraints, and design literacy in election administration.

Read the white paper: Ballot simplicity, constraints, and design literacy

Happy Valentine’s Day. We love this work.