Making voting accessible Designing digital ballot marking for people with low literacy

Dana Chisnell

@danachis @ChadButterfly

Kathryn Summers, University of Baltimore

Dana Chisnell, Center for Civic Design

Drew Davies, Oxide Design Co

Megan McKeever, University of Baltimore

Noel Alton, University of Baltimore

Accessible Voting Technology Initiative (AVTI)

sub grant from Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF)

How might we design an accessible election experience for everyone?

What if anyone could mark their ballot anywhere, any time, on any device?

Disability is treated as an accommodation

But what does “disability” mean?

HAVA requires an accessible system in each polling place

VVSG covers visible disabilities

blind, low vision

mobility

dexterity

What about invisible disabilities?

670,000 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan have been awarded disability status

About 150,000 of them have PTSD

10-20% of all serving have TBI

low literacy - 44% of US adults

low education - 25-50% drop out

limited English proficiency

Where to start?

Best practice ballot designEffective designs for the administration of federal elections, 2007

Best practice ballot designNIST research on language of instructions on ballots Redish, et al, NIST IR 7556, 2009

2007

2008

Started with best practice

Low literacy: beyond plain languagelinear reading literal meaning struggle with word recognition understanding what words together mean

field of view is narrow

not able to pay attention to what might be coming up

can’t remember where they came from

Implicationssequential, linear processing support

pages must stand alone, make sense independently

headings must work out of context

adjacent paragraphs must be independent

Challengeprovide an overview showing the structure of the ballot !

+ !without losing specificity and clarity in interaction

MethodCombined research and design methods !Generative, exploratory !Paper prototype —> digital prototype !Rapid Iterative Testing and Evaluation (RITE)

RITEcollaborative identification of issues in each session immediate development of theory for remedy !Medlock, et al. Using the RITE method to improve products; a definition and a case study, 2002

Process33 sessions (18 paper; 15 digital) NIST medium complexity ballot protocol from NIST IR 7556

Processat least 3 iterations up to 20

Results

many iterations plain interaction

Simpler language bolding key phrases for skimming correcting order and focus

Simpler language bolding key phrases for skimming correcting order and focus

Positive, prescriptive wordingVote for up to 5. You have 5 choices left. !Plus instructions for marking the ballot.

Positive, prescriptive wordingVote for up to 5. You have 3 choices left.

Positive, prescriptive wordingVote for up to 5. You can choose 2 more.

Scrollingfor non-computer users buttons at the top and bottom of the visible candidate names !visible scroll bar, or on the iPad by flicking with a finger

Scrollingfor non-computer users with a label that went from “Touch to see additional candidates” to “Touch to see more names”

Vertical layout

Vertical layoutfor linear reading and processing !allowed more text without scrolling

Deselect messageintentional changes !recovering from the message Close button simplified wording important information bolded

Deselect messageintentional changes !recovering from the message Close button simplified wording important information bolded

Spacing and proximityon the Review screen made a huge difference in understanding and performance

Spacing and proximityon the Review screen made a huge difference in understanding and performance

Interaction patternOut, with steps back Out and back, using Review as a hub

Confirmation messageAre you sure? ! versus !Are you finished?

Confirmation messageAre you sure? ! versus !Are you finished?

Lessons learned

test the languagechoice options vote cast

make it look easy to read

support users’ preferred interactions

The process proved the conventions were broken

Plain interactionThe fewest, simplest steps with maximal focus on the user’s immediate next interaction.

Mobile voting is coming

In the meantime…

If it’s not accessible, it’s not usable.

Thank you. Especially to

ITIF University of Baltimore Whitney Quesenbery

Dana Chisnell

dana@centerforcivicdesign.org

centerforcivicdesign.org

anywhereballot.com/library@danachis@ChadButterfly