Professional Ballot Design
The New York Times has an editorial today about yet another ballot flawed by bad design. Apparently in Ohio (where all the action is this year) some absentee ballots use a punch card system with a separately printed sheet listing the candidates. Even though it looks like you’re supposed to overlay the two and punch the hole that the arrows point to, you’re not. You’re supposed to correlate the number next to your choice to the number on the punch card — the arrows are there by mistake.
The Times rightly points out that these sorts of problems are caused by local officials designing the ballots themselves rather than seeking out a professional designer. Why is design knowledge so profoundly disregarded? Knowing how to use PageMaker doesn’t mean you know how to design a ballot; give it to someone who can do it right. In relation to this story, here’s a tip: If you have to include separate instructions on how to use the ballot, your design has failed.
Dear Election Officials, I will gladly quit my job making bullshit advertising promotions to design and test better ballots. Please contact me or for god’s sake someone. Nothing as solvable as ballot design should be allowed to ruin our election process.
Oh wait, it’s too late. Never mind. I can only hope that Kerry wins by a wide enough margin to avoid the impending litigation mess.
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