Whitney Quesenbery

Executive Director

Whitney is passionate about democracy as a design problem and improving the voter experience. She combines a fascination with people and an obsession to communicate clearly with her goal of usable accessibility for all.

Her work in civic design began with her appointment to the Election Assistance Commission’s advisory committee writing usability and accessibility requirements for new voting systems.

Seventeen years later, she is still excited about the opportunities to approach democracy as a design problem and to improve the voter experience.

She is proud that the Center’s Field Guides To Ensuring Voter Intent can be found in elections offices across the country, and that our best practice guides for voter information, vote-by-mail, voter registration, and ranked-choice voting make it easier for people to cast a ballot.

She is a co-author of the Brennan Center for Justice’s Better Ballots and an expert in their Ballot Design project.  As the coordinator for the EAC-funded Accessible Voting Technology Initiative, she managed 15 grants on voting for people with disabilities, including the development of the Anywhere Ballot. She also served on the U.S. Access Board’s advisory committee updating the Section 508 accessibility regulations.

An authority on gathering user insights to design products where people matter–expertise gained in her work with government, nonprofit, and tech companies–she is the author of three books with practical advice in user experience: A Web for Everyone: Designing Accessible User Experiences;  Storytelling for User Experience; and Global UX: Design and Research in a Connected World.

Whitney co-created the first course on Election Design for the University of Minnesota Certificate in Election Administration.  She serves on advisory boards for Center for Tech and Civic Life, Los Angeles County’s Voting Systems for All People, VotingWorks, and the Participatory Budgeting Project. She holds a master’s degree from The Open University in the UK.

Contact Whitney by email: director at civicdesign dot org