Civic designing: tools and templates
As our birthday present to you, we’ve compiled a toolbox of links to templates, guidelines, and tools that we’ve created (or been part of creating) over the years. These are free (or super cheap) tools and resources that we hope you’ll find useful in every part of election administration, from voter information to how you make decisions about voting systems.
Informed voters
- Template for voter guides
- Best practices manual for official voter information guides
- Webinars on using the best practices for voter guides
- Field guide to designing a voter guide to an election
- Images and icons to use in voter information
- Writing messages voters will click on
- Answering voters’ questions on websites
- Looking across the voter experience
Election design
- Remote ballot marking systems for UOCAVA voters and voters with disabilities
- Anywhere Ballot design principles
- Design principles for ranked choice voting
- What to consider when developing materials in languages other than English
Election administration
- Election Toolkit, including website template, voting timer app, voter wait time measurement, polling place resource planner, results reporting AND MORE
- Insights about security for poll workers
- Checklists for usability and accessibility of electronic poll books
Voting systems
- Roadmap for usability and accessibility of elections
- Steps voters take and the systems, people, and policies they interact with (printable poster)
- Assistive technologies in the polling place
- Requirements for secure and accessible remote ballot marking systems
And of course, there are the Field Guides To Ensuring Voter Intent!
Vol. 01 Designing usable ballots
Vol. 02 Writing instructions voters understand
Vol. 03 Testing ballots for usability
Vol. 04 Effective poll worker materials
Vol. 05 Choosing how to communicate with voters
Vol. 06 Designing voter education booklets and flyers
Vol. 07 Designing election department websites
Vol. 08 Guiding voters through the polling place
Vol. 09 Creating accessible online information
Vol. 10 Creating forms that help voters take action
Happy Birthday, from us, to you! Keep up the good work.
This was originally published in our Civic Designing newsletter. Subscribe on Mailchimp to get election design tips delivered to your mailbox.