Election Day in the US: The User Experience of Voting - UX Watercooler2024-03-28T11:35:42Zhttp://uxwatercooler.ning.com/forum/topics/election-day-in-the-us-the?commentId=2085916%3AComment%3A1862&x=1&feed=yes&xn_auth=noHi Karen - my apologies for t…tag:uxwatercooler.ning.com,2008-12-01:2085916:Comment:18622008-12-01T16:29:03.000ZLisa McMichaelhttp://uxwatercooler.ning.com/profile/LisaKHarris
Hi Karen - my apologies for taking awhile to respond.<br />
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Btw: super idea to publish the above on 'ballot design' and the user experience. This is the first year I voted remotely, by mail. I'd recommend this approach for it's ease-of-use: no lines to wait in, availability of Internet resources to check local/state issues, and it's more relaxed!<br />
<br />
Hope all is well!<br />
/Lisa
Hi Karen - my apologies for taking awhile to respond.<br />
<br />
Btw: super idea to publish the above on 'ballot design' and the user experience. This is the first year I voted remotely, by mail. I'd recommend this approach for it's ease-of-use: no lines to wait in, availability of Internet resources to check local/state issues, and it's more relaxed!<br />
<br />
Hope all is well!<br />
/Lisa While stories about elections…tag:uxwatercooler.ning.com,2008-11-04:2085916:Comment:12322008-11-04T22:29:43.000ZKaren Bachmannhttp://uxwatercooler.ning.com/profile/KarenBachmann
While stories about elections and voting abound today, I thought an NPR interview with Skye Christensen of the <a href="http://www.ifes.org/" target="_blank">International Foundation for Electoral Systems</a> on how voting happen around the world to be especially interesting and certainly germane to this discussion. Mr. Christensen touches on how some countries handle illiteracy, overcome voters' remoteness from polling place, and make election day a national holiday or have elections on…
While stories about elections and voting abound today, I thought an NPR interview with Skye Christensen of the <a href="http://www.ifes.org/" target="_blank">International Foundation for Electoral Systems</a> on how voting happen around the world to be especially interesting and certainly germane to this discussion. Mr. Christensen touches on how some countries handle illiteracy, overcome voters' remoteness from polling place, and make election day a national holiday or have elections on weekends to encourage participation. He also shared that the US has invited election observers who have been here for a few months and will issue a report about our election fairness after today.<br />
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The full audio will be available from the <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96588530" target="_blank">NPR site</a> at 7:00 ET. I live in a small town just o…tag:uxwatercooler.ning.com,2008-11-04:2085916:Comment:12272008-11-04T19:13:50.000ZJonathan Grashowhttp://uxwatercooler.ning.com/profile/JonathanGrashow
I live in a small town just outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I voted this morning. Contrary to my worries, I found the wait to be fairly short (10 minutes). Our voting centers use the touch screen machines (I'm not sure of the brand). I noticed two usability issues:<br />
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1. All of the interaction with the voting machine is performed via a touch screen except for a single action which requires the voter to press a physical “Vote” button. This is confusing because it’s not obvious that the “Vote”…
I live in a small town just outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I voted this morning. Contrary to my worries, I found the wait to be fairly short (10 minutes). Our voting centers use the touch screen machines (I'm not sure of the brand). I noticed two usability issues:<br />
<br />
1. All of the interaction with the voting machine is performed via a touch screen except for a single action which requires the voter to press a physical “Vote” button. This is confusing because it’s not obvious that the “Vote” button is actually a button (and not a decoration). Furthermore, when it is time to press the “Vote” button, the screen displays a message that states something like “The VOTE button is now lit” and a red light behind the “Vote” button starts to flash. The problem is that the display never tells the voter to actually press the button. In the short time that I was at the voting center, I overheard this issue being discussed several times.<br />
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2. The display doesn’t include an overview of the steps involved in the voting procedure, so the voter doesn’t know where they are in the process at any given time. Also, the voter doesn’t know what options they will have later in the process. For example, one of the final steps of the voting procedure asks the voter to confirm his or her selections (which is helpful), but while making selections earlier in the process, the voter isn’t told that he or she will be given a chance to confirm selections later. Also, when voting for several different positions and issues, the voting is separated onto multiple screens due to space limitations and it is easy to get lost.<br />
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Both of these issues may contribute to slower voting (and longer lines), but probably have little effect on accuracy. I do find the touch screen to show choices and selections very clearly. Based on a report on the News Hour with Jim Lehrer (11/3/2008), it seems that the regulatory process for these machines is fairly lengthy, so it is probably not feasible for the manufacturer to update the software for small usability issues. This is unfortunate since one of the traditional benefits of the touch screen display is that it can be changed (relatively) easily.