Equitable Ballot Design and Voter Education Materials

A healthy and high-quality participatory democracy requires that every citizen has an equal and effective vote. Further, all voters should be able to express their preferences easily and have confidence that every effort has been made to record and count those preferences accurately.

Unfortunately, poor ballot design hampers citizens’ ability to express their preferences. Conversely, effective ballot design can lower ballot rejection rates, decrease the number of ballots that require curing, decrease the time it takes to vote, increase voter turnout, and ensure that every voter’s ballot is counted, regardless of race, economic status, age, ability, or language.

This policy brief and fact sheet summarize nationwide best practices and, using the best available science, suggests a series of evidence-based recommendations to improve ballot and polling place design, language accessibility, disability accessibility, and voter education materials. It also reviews current policies across multiple states, including three states of particular interest: Michigan, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.