More than 20 years after HAVA’s mandate, the tension between accessibility and election security has no clear resolution. Too often, new ideas for voter interactions are introduced without a clear view of the problem they can solve, the intended outcomes, and the challenges that the idea must overcome to be successfully added to the administration of elections.

Successful transformations take time, broad input, and support

The shared feature of successful innovations is the time and internal and public consultation they took. A strong  process allows time to ensure that all of the different requirements for the new voting systems could be addressed. Examples include Colorado’s adoption of a new statewide voting method in 2014, Los Angeles County’s development of their Voting System for All People process, and the growth of accessible vote-by-mail systems now in use in roughly half of the states.

Early explorations focus on the technology, not the voter experience

One challenge revealed in the literature is that the early stages of innovation tend to focus on the technology itself, with little input from election officials or other experts. Prototypes often fail to consider voters’ habits, assumptions, or mental models. The result is an innovation that may be technically defensible, but hard to implement in a polling place or which asks voters to perform unexpected actions during the voting process.

Mental models are critical to successful innovations

Understanding mental models is an important step that can speed the acceptance of innovative technology. Acceptance of new technology depends less on the technical security properties than on how easily voters understand the specific actions they are asked to take during and after voting. Innovations are likely to be perceived as having a high burden simply because they are new (and require more time to undestand) until they become the new norm.

Good design and instructions lead to acceptance

Even in an innovative idea, familiar, minimal ballot design builds voter confidence. If voters assume that marking a ballot should be easy, any change that makes it feel unfamiliar or difficult may reduce trust in the overall innovation. Similarly, reducing voter burden by keeping instructions minimal helps ease new technologies into the voting process. Testing is also important, even when experts have created the instructions.

Terminology helps frame innovations in ways that resonate with voters

Preparations for the ElectionGuard pilots included research to explore what terminology and perspectives made sense to voters without the full technical context. The phrases that had the most resonance included the ability to take action on your own to check, confirm, or verify; the importance of independent verification; and the ability to test the system first.

This report was authored by Whitney Quesenbery and Lynn Baumeister, Center for Civic Design.