IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 27
Americans vote more frequently than citizens anywhere else, yet our election
turnout pales in comparison with other developed countries. Politics are
politics, but is it possible some of our election woes stem from the current staid
experience of voting? Advances in technology combined with the power of
design thinking have improved nearly every task-oriented arena of our lives,
from banking to healthcare to paying our taxes, but voting processes remain
a relic from decades past. In an election year that promises to be unlike any
in recent memory, Perspective asks: Could design help rock the vote?
In 2000, it seemed the design
of the voting process was on trial.
Most discussions of today's voting practices
inevitably turn to a defining moment in modern
politics: the 2000 presidential election. "We all
know what happened then," says Whitney
Quesenbery, co-founder of the Center for Civic
Design, a non-profit educational research
organization created to improve elections through
design-based projects with government officials.
Founded in 2013, the Center's work has its roots in
the aftermath of the 2000 presidential race
between George W. Bush and Al Gore, when
litigation regarding the election results in Florida
went all the way to the Supreme Court, and
everyone learned the definition of a "hanging
chad." Beyond the election results, it seemed that
the design of the voting process was also on trial.
Many of Florida's election night problems stemmed
from confusing ballot design, and issues with
paper-based punch card voting machines that
resulted in an unusual number of errors.
Sixteen years after the 2000 election, many voting
processes remain relics of past decades, or centuries.
The United States requires voters to register ahead
of time, and in many states they must put other
obligations on hold and travel to the correct polling
station on a Tuesday. Once inside, many are left
fumbling with outdated voting machines or
scratching their heads when confronted with their
ballots. Turnout numbers reflect a broken process:
According to a report issued by the U.S. Census
Bureau, voting rates in recent presidential races
have fluctuated from a low of 58.4 percent of the
citizen population in 1996 to a high of about 64.0
percent in both 2004 and 2008-and those percen-
tages plummet during non-presidential elections.
In 2014, turnout was estimated at 36 percent.
Tasked with issuing a host of procedures and
communications to the voting public, and often
relying on volunteer poll workers to deploy
important messages at crucial moments, election
officials become designers by default, according
to Quesenbery.
An election official's role includes a wide range
of tasks: recruiting polling volunteers, producing
election materials, setting up voting equipment,
and opening and closing polls. Municipalities often
struggle to implement changes that may be
necessary due to the slow pace of the bureaucratic
process, or limited resources. Just last month, one
official made a very public apology after cutting
the number of polling stations in Arizona's most
populous county and leaving tens of thousands of
citizens unable to vote, or waiting in line for hours.
A collection of 19th
Century American Ballots.
Images courtesy the
CalTech/MIT Voting
Technology Project.
PERSPECTIVE
27
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016
Iida Perspective - Spring/summer 2016
Contents
From IIDA
Behind the Issue
Contributors
IIDA Industry Roundtable
Designer Dialogue: The B Corp Wave
Can Design Rock the Vote?
The Politics of Sport
Roundtable: Office Politics
Inspiration
Colophon
Viewpoints
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - Iida Perspective - Spring/summer 2016
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - Contents
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 1
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 2
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 3
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 4
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - From IIDA
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - Behind the Issue
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 7
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - Contributors
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 9
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - IIDA Industry Roundtable
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 11
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 12
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 13
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 14
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 15
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 16
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 17
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 18
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 19
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - Designer Dialogue: The B Corp Wave
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 21
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 22
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 23
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 24
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 25
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - Can Design Rock the Vote?
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 27
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 28
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 29
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 30
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 31
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 32
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 33
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - The Politics of Sport
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 35
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 36
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 37
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 38
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 39
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 40
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 41
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 42
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 43
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - Roundtable: Office Politics
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 45
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 46
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 47
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 48
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 49
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 50
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 51
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - Inspiration
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 53
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - 54
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - Colophon
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - Viewpoints
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - Cover3
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2016 - Cover4
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