http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/07/voting.problems.ap/index.html
This makes me cringe. Why don’t they cut and paste the same article every election?
We (ID folks) are problem solvers, and this is a problem. Is there anybody out there in our profession working on it? Why are we compromising democracy to bad design?
I haven’t kept up with the IDSA, but surely this must have been discussed since the 2000 election. Anybody with info/links?
Back in 2001, we did a project based on the evolution of voting in an ID class. People had ideas ranging from improved graphic design of paper ballots, more reliable chads, electronic machines that would print receipts, touchscreens etc. Some neat ideas. So, yes, there are IDers working on this. The real question is does anyone want to hear them?
I think that these voting problems stem from inferior products being purchased because of political contacts rather than the quality of the system.
On a side note, the most reliable elections are conducted in Canada and the UK. The voters mark a paper using a marker. The votes are all counted by hand in one evening. Mind you, UK and Canadian voters only have one thing to vote on (no referendums, no 45 judges to confirm, etc.).
doesn’t the person who runs for IDSA secretary treasurer work at Diebold?
The Usability Professionals Association is trying to affect change:
http://www.upassoc.org/upa_projects/voting_and_usability/index.html
Here’s a great article by the head of the effort:
good links cg.
i wonder how much longer this can go on…my spider sense tells me cnn will report on the same broken voting machines, lost ballots, erased votes in the '08 presidential as well. what good is your vote if it doesn’t get recorded because of faulty design/interface?
i mean, do any other ID’ers out there feel both this sense of responsibility to do something, yet an overwhelming disconnect from the decision makers? this is the ultimate universal design project, it is not for a target market. there is no long or short tail. it is the tail. if you’re a US citizen, over 18, and breathing then you’re effected by it…each and every two years. holy freakin cow.