U.S. Election Assistance Commission

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – The U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) highlighted the importance of ballot design at its public meeting on Wednesday. Election officials and other experts testified about design techniques and approaches and the importance of usability for ballots on all types of voting systems, including electronic touch screen machines, optical-scan devices, and paper-based systems.

Participants also discussed Effective Designs for the Administration of Federal Elections, a set of best practices issued by the EAC to help facilitate the administration of elections and increase the accessibility of election materials for voters and election officials. Visit www.eac.gov to view a webcast of the public meeting (available by the end of the week) and testimony from the meeting participants.

“As we approach the November 2008 general election, ballot design continues to present challenges to election officials and voters,” said EAC Chair Rosemary Rodriguez. “We hope that today’s discussion and the EAC’s materials will provide the guidance and resources needed to ensure that voters have a successful experience in November.” The chair said the EAC will continue to work with election officials to identify strategies for improving ballot design within the complex and highly regulated area of election administration.

The EAC set of best practices, available in the Election Official Center at www.eac.gov, is extensive, including voter information materials, ballot design practices for several voting systems, sample images, and design specifications. The following design best practices were taken into consideration: literacy, readability, usability, alternate languages, Braille, audio accessibility and compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). The contents were based on legislative guidelines, information design principles and user centered research. The EAC Standards Board reviewed the draft set of best practices in the EAC’s Virtual Meeting Room. Board members posted comments, and the public was able to view those comments as well as the draft document.

In addition to the set of best practices, the EAC also developed an image library containing thousands of camera-ready images in two formats. The image library provides files that can be customized for a local jurisdiction, and then sent to the printer for production – a service that saves election officials money as well as providing them with voting materials that were created with sound design principles and practices. Election officials should call EAC toll-free at 866-747-1471 to request the image library.

EAC developed the best practices in accordance with the mandates of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) Sections 302(b) and 241(b) related to polling place information and ballot designs.

The EAC is an independent bipartisan commission created by HAVA. The EAC serves as a national clearinghouse and resource of information regarding election administration. It is charged with administering payments to states and developing guidance to meet HAVA requirements, adopting voluntary voting system guidelines, and accrediting voting system test laboratories and certifying voting equipment. It is also charged with developing and maintaining a national mail voter registration form. The four EAC commissioners are Rosemary Rodriguez, chair; Caroline Hunter, vice chair; Donetta Davidson; and Gracia Hillman.