A better ballot for New York

In 2010, New York State used paper ballots for the first time.  Unfortunately, a NY League of Women Voters survey after the election found that many voters found the ballots hard to use because of small text, missing instructions, weak separation of contests

We’ve created a design concept for a sample ballot, to show how design and usability best practices can make your ballots easier to read, easier to use, and reduce voter errors, working within New York State election law.

Design mockup by Drew Davies, Oxide Design Co. and AIGA Design for Democracy
Analysis and presentation by Whitney Quesenbery

2 Comments

  1. September 3, 2020 by Peter

    It is definitely a better ballot. But, as a poll worker, the most confusing part of the ballot still remains: the same candidate being represented by multiple parties. If someone wants to vote for that candidate, they do not understand why they are listed multiple times and it causes their ballots to get rejected when they put it into the machine.

    1. September 9, 2020 by Whitney Quesenbery

      It is hard to design a ballot when the election laws themselves are confusing and hard to explain.