Civic Design Democracy is a design problem.

Can the perfect ballot be designed? We think so. Starting here.

Good ballot design means that voters can reliably and accurately express their intent. Local election officials know through experience that when ballots are well designed, it is less likely that elections will be contested, that there will be recounts, and that there will be lawsuits.

We know a lot about good design in elections, and most of the best practices are fairly easy to implement, even within constraints of existing election legislation, sub-optimal technology, and no budgets. Local election officials are in a better position than ever to implement good design practices, in spite of shortages.

We’re excited about the Field Guides project, and we hear that local election officials are, too.

Download PDFs of the Field Guides for FREE. 

Vol. 01. Designing usable ballots (PDF) (original research)

Vol. 02. Writing instructions voters understand (PDF) (original NIST report)

Vol. 03. Testing ballots for usability (PDF) (link to LEO kit at UPA)

Vol. 04. Effective poll worker materials (PDF) (original NIST report)

Want the real thing? Order printed copies from our Store. 

Raves about the Field Guides

First of all, let me say, I am so profoundly impressed with the work you are and your team are trying to achieve… The first set of guides are dynamite and I am madly sharing them with the League Voter Service community. 

I have been working on the state of California Board for the LWV for the last 3 years on community education … primarily through our LWVC Education Website… [The] same rules apply, and I think your guides are going to be put to great service by groups doing voter education. 

 

Suzanne Stassevitch
Community Education
The League of Women Voters California

 

Short, simple, readable, usable.  Let’s hope they make a difference!

Janice (Ginny) Redish, Ph.D.
Redish & Associates, Inc.

 

So awesome, so well designed, such superb content!

Joseph Lorenzo Hall
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Media, Culture and Communication
New York University

 

Interested in what’s to come?  Send us a note and we’ll let you know when new Field Guides are available. Or, follow @ChadButterfly on Twitter.

 

Chad Butterfly says, “Thank You!”

 

Initial funding for this project came from 300+ extremely generous people who backed the project through Kickstarter.

The Field Guides are also made possible through the generous support of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. 

Dean Logan, head of elections for Los Angeles County, which has 4.65 million registered voters