AIGA, the professional association for design, has been working behind the scenes to bring ballot design to the forefront of the national consciousness.
In the past week alone, two front-page articles about the importance of well-designed ballots for November’s elections appeared in both USA Today (“Study: Poor Ballot Designs Still Affect U.S. Elections,” July 21, 2008) and The New York Times (“Influx of Voters Expected to Test New Technology,” July 21, 2008), spurred by the release of the Brennan Center for Justice’s revealing report, titled “Better Ballots.” AIGA, integrally involved in ballot design reform since 2000 through its Design for Democracy initiative, was a contributor to the report.
AIGA Design for Democracy has published both national ballot design guidelines on behalf of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC), which were distributed to 6,000 local election officials in January, and Marcia Lausen’s book, Design for Democracy: Ballot + Election Design (jointly with University of Chicago Press), which is now on shelves and in the hands of all Congress members and election officials nationwide.
Design for Democracy continues to partner with local officials through training sessions, an election design fellowship and individual ballot design consultations to improve election clarity and accuracy in an effort to increase voter confidence in 2008 and beyond.
AIGA counsels election officials on ballot design at IACREOT conference
On July 18 and 19, AIGA Design for Democracy’s Jessica Friedman Hewitt and Joe Sparano (Oxide Design Co., Omaha) were guests at IACREOT 2008, an annual conference attended by hundreds of clerks, recorders, election officials and treasurers. From the election officials’ trade-show booth, Hewitt and Sparano counseled more than 50 election officials from across the nation (California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas) as well as internationally (Canada, New Zealand) on use of the ballot and election design guidelines that Design for Democracy researched and developed on behalf of the EAC.
A handful of officials brought sample ballots from their own jurisdictions to the conference, held in Phoenix, for personalized feedback; those who left samples back at home were invited to email copies for comments. Upon learning of the availability of professionally designed, editable election materials, one official exclaimed, “It’s like Christmas.” Even though officials face challenging constraints—imposed by local laws, voting equipment and budgets—many of them left IACREOT with feasible design solutions that they will employ on behalf of voters.
About AIGA Design for Democracy
Established in 1998, AIGA Design for Democracy applies design tools and thinking to increase civic participation by making interactions between the U.S. government and its citizens more understandable, efficient and trustworthy. Independent, pragmatic and committed to the public good, Design for Democracy collaborates with researchers, designers and policy-makers in service of public sector clients on a nonprofit basis and AIGA’s goal of “demonstrating the value of design by doing valuable things.”
This article was last modified on January 18, 2023
This article was first published on August 5, 2008
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