The importance of usability testing of voting systems

Authors:
Paul S. Herrnson;Richard G. Niemi;Michael J. Hanmer;Benjamin B. Bederson;Frederick G. Conrad;Michael Traugott
Affiliations:
University of Maryland;University of Rochester;Georgetown University;University of Maryland;University of Michigan;University of Michigan
Venue:
EVT'06 Proceedings of the USENIX/Accurate Electronic Voting Technology Workshop 2006 on Electronic Voting Technology Workshop
Year:
2006

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Abstract

Expert reviews, laboratory tests, and a large-scale field study of one paper/optical scan and five electronic voting systems suggested numerous possible improvements. Changes could be made in all aspects of the process-signing-on, navigating across the ballot, checking and changing votes, casting write-in votes, and reviewing and casting the ballot. A paper trail was largely ignored by voters. Voters generally cast votes as intended, but complexities, such as changing votes and using a ballot with a straight-party feature, reduced voting accuracy. We call for additional usability research to examine new and altered systems, especially considering add-ons such as voter verifiable paper trails.