SIGIA-L Mail Archives: RE: SIGIA-L: Usability blunder causes U.
RE: SIGIA-L: Usability blunder causes U.S. Presidential Election turmoil
From: Tiffany.MengSteffens_at_luminant.com
Date: Thu Nov 09 2000 - 10:35:18 EST
Also, as much as the usability stinks, the ballot was approved by both
parties PRIOR to the election -- maybe there are some job opportunities
for IAs in Palm Beach county.....
Tiffany Meng Steffens | Project Manager
Luminant Worldwide
tiffany.mengsteffens_at_luminant.com
p: 212-842-6467 (direct), 212-842-6300
"Sean K. Ervin" <servin_at_symetri.com>
Sent by: owner-sigia-l_at_asis.org
11/09/00 10:03 AM
To: "Reed, Phil" <preed_at_proxicom.com>, "'SIGIA mailing list '"
<sigia-l_at_asis.org>
cc:
Subject: RE: SIGIA-L: Usability blunder causes U.S. Presidential Election turmoil
I agree, this is a usability problem for future resolution by Palm Springs
county. However, (devil's advocate) the arrows are pointing to exactly
where
the voter is to mark.
IMHO
This is a great example of why ballots should be tallied electronically,
which brings up a good question.
If the ballots were electronic, would the usability have been designed
better?
ske
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-sigia-l_at_asis.org [mailto:owner-sigia-l_at_asis.org]On Behalf Of
Reed, Phil
Sent: Wednesday, November 08, 2000 11:54 PM
To: 'SIGIA mailing list '
Subject: SIGIA-L: Usability blunder causes U.S. Presidential Election
turmoil
How's that for a catchy headline?
Here's the scoop:
In Florida, the Palm Springs county ballot was designed so poorly that
voters ended up voting for the wrong person--Pat Buchanan--when they meant
to vote for Gore. When the voters learned of their mistake they cried
out,
asking for the ballot back from the election officials--but to no avail.
Apparently (and here's where the usability part comes in) the ballot was
designed as such: (ASCII doesn't do the ineptitude justice, for an image
of
the ballot go to:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/onpolitics/elections/ballot110800.htm )
----------------------| |
George W. Bush -->| 0 |----------------------
----------------------| 0 |<-- Pat Buchanan
Albert Gore -->| 0 |----------------------
----------------------| |
The mostly elderly (and perhaps some farsighted) voters read the ballot
as,
(and this is me doing my elderly voter's voice-in-the-head imitation
"Bush,
no...don't want to vote for him, Gore...yes I'll vote for him -- he's the
second one on the ballot, so I'll punch the second hole".
The rest, as they say, is history.
Granted, this doesn't account for the other "irregularities" surrounding
the
election results in Florida, but this ballot design certainly deserves a
spot in the "Hall of Shame", no?
Apologies for the (slightly) off-topic post.
Phil Reed
Director, Information Design
preed_at_proxicom.com
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