Running Elections

Our projects explore how to design voter information, ballots, poll worker materials, election forms and notices, and voting systems - making them usable and accessible.

Projects. A binder cover and open notebook

Ballot design

Ballots that can be marked privately and independently are at the heart of the voter journey.

Connecting to community groups

Our ongoing research into how community groups and election offices differ in their approaches to increasing civic participation.

3 cartoons of people with different colored speech balloons overlapping

Language access

How do we design election systems to meet voters’ language access needs?
Project partners: Center for Technology and Civic Life. With support from NIST

Poll workers + polling places

Whether it’s at a polling place or a vote center, in-person voting is a cornerstone of the elections process. The folks who run the process — poll workers, election judges, election workers — are a vital extension of your office.

Ranked choice voting

Best practices for ballot design, instructions, and election results reporting for ranked choice contests.
Project partners: Ranked Choice Voting Resource Center and Fair Vote

Vote by mail

Consistent, usable designs for vote-at-home envelopes and instructions
With support from the James Irvine Foundation, Democracy Fund, and the Hewlett Foundation

Voter education

Voters are constantly deciding whether or not to take the next step in the voting process. Make your voter education an invitation to participate.

Voter Registration

Explore our efforts to modernize voter registration like automatic voter registration, same-day voter registration, and online voter registration.

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Voting systems

What is needed to ensure that the next generation of election systems are usable and accessible?
Funded by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)