Ballot Order: Randomization and rotation
The Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (VVSG 2.0), a standard published by the federal Election Assistance Commission as mandated by the Help America Vote Act, includes the principle that the voting system and ballot design should have no bias.
One of the ways that a ballot can introduce bias is the order candidates are presented in each contest. This guide outlines best practices for randomizing and rotating candidate names to help ensure fairness, consistency, and compliance with the principle of “no bias” in ballot design.
These best practices outlines the options to produce randomness, drawing from political science research and specific examples from across the country.
Ballot Order: Randomization and rotation
This guide includes:
- Options for creating randomness (lot draws, randomized alphabets, mechanical devices)
- Examples from the field
- How to implement ballot rotation to further increase fairness
- Links to helpful ballot design resources
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