Ballot Design

The layout and interaction design of the form through which voters select and cast their choices, covering paper ballots, electronic voting machines, and online interfaces. Well-studied accessibility and usability principles for ballot design include randomising the order of candidates or options to prevent ballot-order bias, keeping instructions short and in plain language, presenting one decision per screen in online systems, meeting WCAG colour contrast and target-size requirements, using a simple bare layout free of visual steering cues, and providing clear verification feedback after vote casting. Ballot design sits at the intersection of voting accessibility, cognitive accessibility, and electoral integrity, and poor design has been shown to change election outcomes.