Why the US election is making me think of accessible (or inaccessible) design
Voter suppression, by design.
Living abroad or travelling as a Canadian is always a bit of a struggle between demonstrating the fact that Canadians are not Americans, but also being knowledgeable enough in American politics and culture in order not to look stupid. It’s also very hard not to stare at a burning car as you pass it on the highway. As a result, I have found that I am wholly invested in the political landscape and social structure of the USA. I am especially interested in the differences and similarities of what goes on south of our border compared to how our own society is structured and designed.
Yesterday, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris made history by winning the American presidential election with 5 million more votes than the other guy. It is huge, and I am sincerely happy for the US but I can’t help but be a bit hesitant to celebrate, a bit apprehensive about the actual progress that will be made, and very suspect of how the voting process is designed.
This is a unique feeling for me as a lifetime optimist, largely due to a self-inflicted naivete which I am working on daily to overcome as a white woman.
While currently living in France, I have had a number of people ask me why I care about the election which forced me to consider… why I cared so much about the election. Whether we like it or not the USA impacts society globally. What happens there affects the world but even more importantly, the biases, social injustices, and bulls*** that goes on is just a magnified version of global issues, including issues at home.
Watching the voting process unfold in the US was shocking to me and I have spent a lot of time trying to understand exactly what were the reasons that I had a knot in the pit of my stomach watching what was going on. I have performed an analysis of the design of the voting process in the USA and came up with some of the flaws below:
1. Internet access
10% of Americans do not have access to the internet, which of course changes when you look at differing demographics. 15% of Black Americans and 14% of Hispanic Americans cannot access the web. Even more jarring is that 18% of Americans who have an annual income of less than $30,000 USD and 7% of those with an income between $30,000 USD and $49,000 USD (for a total of %25) cannot access the web. Digital exclusion has massive repercussions to voting such as:
- A lack of access to political platforms
- A lack of understanding of the voting process (voting times, locations, voter rights)
- Voter apathy and a disconnect to one’s own society
- The ability to track mail-in ballots to ensure that your vote has been counted (45 states offer ballot-tracking software Intelligent Mail Barcodes (IMb))
The solution? Make the internet more accessible, make quality information more accessible, make credible sources easier to find, stop the spread of misinformation.
2. Voter registration
This process creates an added barrier to voting with a large margin for user error and irreversible consequences. Almost 50% of millennials find the voter registration process to be overly complicated, one example provided was that millennials are constantly moving from one state to another and are typically unable to have the foresight to update their registration information.
The solution? Same-day registration and extending the time period to register.
3. Ballot Design
According to The Center for Civic Design, each year thousands of votes are lost due to poor ballot design. How is this possible?! Of course, there are some limitations based on technology, cost, legislation, poor designers… but the fixes are simple (isn’t that always the case?).
The solution? Use lowercase letters, left-aligned type, clear, large type (sans-serif font, minimum 12-point for print, minimum 3.0–4.0mm for screen), include clear instructions, utilise numbering to demonstrate progress, use clear, simple illustrations, avoid political party emblems and stick to informational icons only, successfully implement contrast and color and follow informational hierarchy rules.
4. Ill-functioning Technology
I could not believe the waiting times people had to go through in order to vote. This was most evident in predominantly Black and lower-socioeconomic voting jurisdictions which adds to the fact that it is harder for them to find the time off work to vote. For example, wage workers disproportionately encounter long wait times and do not get time off to vote, also, Georgia saw waiting times of over 10 hours, which was attributed to a limited number of polls, understaffing, and bad technology (computer glitches).
There are also some policies that require user access to a printer and secrecy envelopes. If an individual does not have easy access to this technology, they may be excluded from voting.
The solution? Make sure the machines work, technology is accessible, and that there are a proportionate number of resources (machines, poll workers, etc.) based on the population of people voting.
5. Usability — Confirmation
Allowing users to verify that they voted the way they wanted to. Researchers have found that some users cast their vote without reviewing the summary as they don’t realise that the next step is to finalise their ballot.
The solution? This process should made very clear and a confirmation mechanism should be used so that the user can verify they voted in alignment with their needs.
6. Accessibility to poll locations
Many Native American voters are forced to drive hours in order to reach a polling station due to living in remote parts of the world. This has a huge impact, as was evident in Arizona where the Navajo people gave 97% of the vote to Biden, said to be the reason Arizona flipped during this election, and showed up in record numbers, despite having the highest Covid-19 death rate.
In Nevada, Members of the Pyramid Lake Paiutes must drive over two hours for the closest early voting location and in Arizona, there is just one post office every 707 square miles that affect the previously mentioned Navajo population.
The solution? Maps need to be analysed, voting data needs to be accessed, and polling stations need to be dispersed accordingly. Technology can also support this process as well as increasing early voting periods.
7. Documentation
Photo ID is mandatory in 35 states with 6 states not allowing for a written affidavit for missing ID. This further disproportionately affects poor, homeless and disabled voters who may not have a permanent address or other means of obtaining ID. Furthermore, 25% of Black voters do not have IDs and in North Dakota, 19% of Native Americans lacked qualifying IDs. Shockingly (but really, is anything shocking anymore) Texas allows voters to use a handgun license, but students cannot use a student ID from a state university.
The solution? End homelessness and poverty, provide better services to lower socioeconomic communities (such as providing them with identification). This is a little bit rooted in dark humour but also… we should do it.
8. Prison voting bans
This should be an entire book based on the history of the prison system in the US and I don’t want to pretend that I understand the deep-seated history facing this flaw. However, this is a huge issue that disenfranchises many African American and Latino communities and must be resolved. A result of these restrictions results in 7.7% of Black Americans to lose their right to vote vs. 1.8% of non-black voters. I also won’t pretend that I have a solution to this issue so I will continue my journey of self-education regarding this topic and other racial injustice issues.
9. Pollsters
How is it that we are so shocked (are we though??) that over 70 million people voted republican? How can projections be so far off reality? Is there a risk that these polls foster complacency, diffusion of responsibility, a false sense of comfort? Are people telling pollsters what they think they want to hear, or are they saying how they really feel? Obviously, I have more questions than answers considering I’ve only asked questions and I’ve given no answers.
The solution? Properly explain what the polls mean so that they are not used as fact and people continue to show up and vote regardless. Some important aspects of polling to consider include understanding that polls are not ‘ nationally representative’, the sample size may not account for much, anyone with money can conduct a national poll, and more.
Many of my solutions are not based on in-depth analyses of what is going on and a ton of data crunching, hypothesising and analysis needs to be conducted. My overall goal of this article is to get people thinking about what is wrong with the design of the USA voting process and maybe get us to think about how our voting processes in our home countries are impacted by the same design flaws.
I completely understand that there may be issues that I have left out. I am always open to discussions to expand my learning on these issues so please reach out to me for a chat any time!
Some important resources I found:
