The view from the scanner
Experiences as a poll worker in New York City. Continue reading
Tag Archives: New York
A better ballot for New York
In 2010, New York State used paper ballots for the first time. Unfortunately, a NY League of Women Voters survey after the election found that many voters found the ballots hard to use because of small text, missing instructions, weak separation of contests We’ve created a design concept for a … Continue reading
Hello, New York. What will your ballot look like in November?
The business of trying to design better elections has it’s ups and downs. What’s going on in New York State is a good example. Good news. In 2010, New York State switched from lever machines to paper ballots. Bad news. The ballots were, to put it mildly, difficult to read. … Continue reading
Lost votes and error messages
A new report from the Brennan Center for Justice concludes that in 2010, tens of thousands of votes in New York did not count because of errors — errors that can be easily caught or prevented to ensure that ballots are marked according to the voters’ intent. They are overvotes–when … Continue reading
Results from testing for double votes in New York
On a Saturday in October 2010, a group of Usability in Civic Life volunteered went to five locations to run a flash usability test to learn how New Yorkers marked their new optical scan ballots, especially looking for a kind of error called “double voting” (voting for one candidate under … Continue reading