Style Guide for Voting System Documentation at NIST

We’ve talked here about how important is that instructions for voters be easy to understand. The other key person on Election Day is the poll worker. Poll workers are also users of ballots and voting systems and are often the front line in troubleshooting problems.

A new report from NIST provides guidelines for writing voting system documentation. One value of good system manuals is that election officials often use material from them to create poll worker training and voter education — so usability flows down stream.

The project report: Style Guide for Voting System Documentation (NIST Internal Report IR-7519)

Presentation on the work to the EVT/WOTE 2009 election technology conference: Why User-Centered Documentation Matters to Voting Security