Plain language in mail ballot voter statements
2020 was a big year for vote-by-mail. As we worked with states and counties across the country as they scaled-up voting by mail for the general election, we set out to learn more about signature forms on ballot envelopes. As part of the process of voting by mail, voters sign a legal statement that often has complicated language and a confusing layout. Our research identified ways that applying the principles of plain language to vote-by-mail envelopes can improve readability and simplify content.
Making ballot envelopes clear and understandable: The impact of plain language on voter signature forms
Key findings
Based on our research, we came up with a list of dos and don’ts for designing content and writing in plain language on ballot envelopes.
The dos and don’t of designing content on ballot envelopes
| Do | Don’t |
| Use fields for information identifying voters that are separate from reading sections | Use fill-in-the-blank (clozes) throughout reading sections for information identifying voters |
| Require voters to acknowledge fewer than 10 elements | Require voters to acknowledge more than 10 elements |
| Use blanket or general acknowledgements where possible | Use exhaustive lists of individual acknowledgments |
| Allow flexibility in the election code so that jurisdictions can design envelopes that meet their unique needs | Prescribe exact language and design components |
| Use reminders and instructions efficiently to maximize white space | Squeeze lots of text onto the envelope |
The do’s and don’ts of readable language on ballot envelopes
| Do | Don’t |
| Consider that the average American adult reads at a middle school level | Write for highly educated and experienced voters |
| Use tools like Hemingway Editor to gauge how readable your ballot envelope is | Rely on your intuition in deciding what might or might not be readable to voters |
| Use bullets whenever possible | Use long blocks of uninterrupted text |
| Make text shorter whenever possible | Squeeze lots of text onto the envelope |
| Do usability testing to really find out how readable your ballot envelope is | Rely solely on readability scores |
Bullets can make a big difference in readability
We found that simple changes can make dramatic improvements to the readability of voting systems. Just by adding bullets to forms, readability can substantially improve.
The chart below shows the readability scores of states’ current voting system. 22 of the forms were rated at a high school reading level or higher. If we consider middle school to be the approximate threshold for what is likely to be readable for most adults, 22 (out of 26) states in our sample are currently using a ballot envelope that would be difficult for the average American voter to understand and use.
States by readability of their current voter statements
Only 4 states were at a late primary or middle school level, Most of the 26 state envelopes we evaluated scored at reading skills levels from High School (4) or College (4) to Post-Grad (14).
States by readability of voter statements with bullets
It turns out that just by adding bullets to forms, the readability can substantially improve.
About the research
This research was conducted by Sean Isamu Johnson and Whitney Quesenbery.
We reviewed the information and signature forms on mail-in ballot envelopes from 26 states and conducted a readability and content analysis to understand whether the voter statement—including all the text of the legal statement—is easy enough for voters to read that they are more likely to successfully complete and return their ballot.
We analyzed the text of these 26 envelopes in 2 ways:
- Cataloging the content elements in the voter statements, to see how much information they have to contain. We looked for requirements for signatures, printed name, date signed, printed address, the name of the jurisdiction, and documented any other requirements such as data of birth, contact information, or even mother’s maiden name
- Assessing the readability of the voter statements, based on the length of the text, the complexity of the words used, and the sentence structure, to see how much room for improvement there is. We used the Hemingway editor to calculate readability scores as a way to compare the texts. This work included normalizing the text so that we had equivalent text from all 26 samples. We collapsed the readability scores in to 6 descriptive ranges from early primary to post-graduate.
We selected a few envelope oaths to create demonstrations of how they can be simplified by applying plain language principles. The demonstrations show a process for transforming complex text into plain language in 4 steps:
- Step 1: Simplify the sentences
- Step 2: Choose simpler words carefully
- Step 3: Further simplification of the structure of the text
- Step 4: Use blanket statements instead of long lists of requirements
Related resources
Visit our page on voting by mail to find more resources about designing envelopes, instructions, and other materials that voters interact with during their vote-by-mail process.
For actionable tips from this research, you can check out our article 3 strategies to improve vote-by-mail signature forms.