What election offices learned from our goal-setting tool

April 2, 2026

Learn how election offices across the country are using our nonpartisan Setting Goals in Election Operations toolkit to turn post-election insights into concrete, actionable plans.

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.

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

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...

What can you learn from usability testing in the civic space?

April 11, 2012

A look at how usability testing helps answer questions for better election design.

Usability matters – even with paper ballots

February 2, 2012

An message on a ballot scanner doesn't explain that an overvote will not be counted - potentially leading to many lost votes.

Initial observations and insights about ranked choice voting from a flash usability test

January 9, 2012

Participants voted on the Alameda County demonstration ballot and the Portland, Maine ballot from 2011.

Solving the double vote problem in New York State through design

November 29, 2011

Overvotes, double votes and other challenges of switching from lever machines to paper ballots.

Flash usability testing for double votes in New York

November 18, 2011

Flash testing gathered data about how voters mark ballots where the same candidate can appear on more than one party line.

Why is it so hard to produce a usable, well-designed ballot?

March 7, 2011

Although the butterfly ballot became the emblem for bad ballot design, we continue to see ballot design problems

New York should have piloted their new voting system

November 8, 2010

Our thoughts: why didn't New York test their new ballot?

Testing ballots: Real names or fictional? Direct how to vote or not?

May 9, 2009

Why fictional-but-realistic ballots work best for usability testing.

Text on the left or right – which works better?

September 30, 2008

A usability test compared two ballots to see which one worked better for voters.

Style Guide for Voting System Documentation at NIST

September 19, 2008

Research on how to write a manual for poll workers setting up and running voting systems

It comes down to plain language

August 6, 2008

Writing explanations of ballot measures in San Francisco