A new step-by-step technical guide to building accessible forms in InDesign

September 27, 2025

Our new technical guide walks you through the process of building accessible PDF forms

Listening to voters

May 8, 2015

Helping citizens feel included in civic life by listening to voters (Article in Civic Quarterly)

Drawing of a voter reading a voter guide

Day in the life of a poll worker 2014

November 10, 2014

The real test of an election administration is what happens when feelings run high, or when things go wrong.

Ballot design and the intersection of constraints

February 14, 2014

A white paper on ballot simplicity, constraints, and design literacy in election administration.

Center for Civic Design Research Report - Updates from the front line of civic design research

The year in review: 2013 and the beginning of the Center for Civic Design

January 4, 2014

Looking back at an exceptional 2013, as we started on exciting plans for 2014.

What’s the conversation you’re having with voters?

December 30, 2013

One element important to the success of voter information has to do with "voice."

Stuff just got real: Forming the Center for Civic Design

December 2, 2013

Announcing... the Center for Civic Design. Watch this space!

Testifying to the PCEA: Voting anywhere, any time, on any device

November 20, 2013

Drew Davies testified to the Presidential Commission on Election Administration about work to develop the Anywhere Ballot.

What makes election information helpful to voters?

September 22, 2013

A study of how new voters used election information booklets looked for things that helped voters plan and act.

Testifying to the PCEA: Looking across the voter experience

September 6, 2013

Thinking about the voter experience as a hero's journey.

Testifying to the PCEA: Accessibility as a driver for innovation

September 5, 2013

Accessible voting will take new ways to think. Not isolated silos, but collaborative innovation

Information gaps can become lost votes

August 30, 2013

3 out of 16 people in our research wanted to vote, but were not able to because of gaps in information about elections.

Answering voters’ questions on websites

August 6, 2013

When links, labels, and headings on websites match how voters talk and think, they find what they’re looking for, and they are less likely to call asking questions.

Election vocabulary voters don’t get — and what to do about it

August 5, 2013

Our research and that of others who study people with low literacy and reading disabilities tell us that simplicity rules.

Helping voters who have extraordinary abilities

May 14, 2013

A talk about the research watching ordinary people with extraordinary abilities who work around their limitations in their daily lives interact with the Anywhere Ballot.

Voters in minority counties less likely to find answers on local election websites

March 21, 2013

Research insight: Mostly-minority counties’ election websites consistently had fewer key words that would help voters find answers

Rapid, responsive, radical: The Anywhere Ballot is born

February 23, 2013

The genesis of the Anywhere Ballot project: What if anyone could vote on any device?

Ballots are made by laws and systems — and miracle workers

October 9, 2012

A ballot seems like a straightforward thing to design. Then comes something unpredictable.

If it’s not usable, it’s not secure

August 9, 2012

Preliminary insights from exploratory research about how voters use ballots that include alternative counting methods.

A better ballot for New York

August 2, 2012

In 2010, New York State used paper ballots for the first time. Unfortunately, a NY League of Women Voters survey...

Plain language is a process

July 11, 2012

There are great lists of guidelines and tips for writing in plain language, but when you are faced with making...