Designing the Voter Experience for Accessibility and Engagement

Episode 025 • 46 min

There’s a presidential election coming up in less than a month, in an unprecedented time.

There’s a presidential election coming up in less than a month, in an unprecedented time. Today we’ll be discussing the intersection of design and voting; how to make voting a good experience and make it accessible and equitable for all. Every election’s stakes are high, yet roughly 60% of Americans don’t turn out to vote. As one of our guests wrote: The real problem is that voting in America is just hard. Like anything, voting is an experience that should be designed to maximize participation. This week’s guest co-host is an expert on design and voting; Dana Chisnell is the Director of Project ReDesign at the National Conference on Citizenship. Prior to her current role, she was instrumental in developing the Field Guides to Ensuring Voter Intent. We talk to Dana about her career in civic design and how design plays a role in making voting easier for everyone involved. And our guest is Beth Huang. She’s the Director of Massachusetts Voter Table, where she works with community organizations to increase voter turnout and civic leadership in communities of color and working-class people in the state. We chat with Beth about her strategies for engaging new voters, not just for the 2020 presidential election, but for local and state elections as well as for ongoing political participation. Plus, we have our weekly dose of good design for you.

Weekly Dose of Good Design

• Sam: Halt and Catch Fire
• Dana: Vote by mail signup postcard & bubbles

Links

• Resource: Field Guides to Ensuring Voter Intent
• Organization: Center for Civic Design
• Agency: U.S. Election Assistance Commission
• Document: Effective Designs for the Administration of Federal Elections
• Agency: United States Digital Service
• Organization: MassCounts