**Testimony before the U.S. Election Assistance Commission**

**PUBLIC HEARING -- APRIL 16, 2008**

**EAC Resources for Ballot Design**

**Submitted by Connie Schmidt, CERA**

**Co-Project Manager, Election Management Guidelines**

Thank you for the opportunity to provide an overview of ballot design
and preparation resources provided in the Election Management Guidelines
and Quick Start Guide series.

As a former election official, I truly appreciate the efforts of the
Commissioners and EAC staff in continuing their mission to conduct
research and collect guidelines and best practices. The availability of
these resources is a giant step towards the improvement of election
administration nationwide.

Recognizing the need to provide information to election officials as
quickly as possible, in August 2007 the EAC issued the *[Quick Start
Management Guide for Ballot Preparation/Printing and Pre-Election
Testing]{.underline}*. The Guide provided several tips and suggestions,
such as:

-   Understand the significance of the placement of ovals, folds, timing
    marks, and precinct/ballot style identifiers. If the ballot is
    folded on an oval, it may impact the scanner's ability to read the
    ballot.

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-   To prepare for recording audio ballots, ask the candidates to record
    the pronunciation of their names when they file for office.

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-   Use vendor-certified or pre-qualified printing companies. Remember
    that if the ink density on the ballot is too light, the scanner may
    have difficulty reading the timing marks. Also, the weight of the
    paper stock may cause the scanner to jam.

-   Immediately conduct a logic and accuracy test whenthe ballots arrive
    from the printer. This test should be successfully completed prior
    to mailing or distributing ballots to voters.

-   Develop a Plan B in the event ballots are not delivered on time or
    there is a shortage of ballots on Election Day.

A soon to be released new chapter in the Election Management Guidelines
is also devoted to Ballot Design. As you know, one of the goals of the
Management Guidelines project is to appropriately integrate this
document with the Voluntary Voting Systems Guidelines (VVSG) and the EAC
Testing and Certification Program Manual.

The EMG Chapter on ballot design does reinforce the requirements of the
VVSG. Within the chapter, specific VVSG requirements that pertain to
ballot design are referenced, followed by an easy to understand example
of how to implement the requirement. Within the chapter, the reader is
reminded that the word, SHALL, is a mandatory VVSG requirement, and the
word, SHOULD, is a VVSG recommendation.

Examples of the VVSG requirements referenced in this chapter are:

-   When an instruction is based on a condition, the condition SHOULD be
    stated first, and then the action to be performed. For instance, use
    "In order to change your vote do X", rather than "Do X, in order to
    change your vote."

-   The ballot SHALL clearly indicate the maximum number of candidates
    for which one can vote within a single contest.

-   The relationship between the name of a candidate and the mechanism
    used to vote for that candidate SHALL be consistent throughout the
    ballot. For example, the response field where voters indicate their
    votes must not be located to the left of some candidates' names, and
    to the right of others.

-   The voting system SHOULD NOT visually present a single contest
    spread over two pages or two columns. We do note that if a contest
    has a large number of candidates, it may be infeasible to observe
    this guideline.

-   The system SHOULD issue instructions on the correct way to perform
    actions, rather than telling voters what not to do. For example,
    "Fill in the oval for your write-in vote to count" rather than "If
    the oval is not marked; your write-in vote cannot be counted."

The above are examples of information contained in the EMG chapter.
There are a total of 24 references to the VVSG requirements that pertain
to ballot design included in the chapter.

The remainder of the chapter discusses issues that are common to all
ballots. These include such things as providing instructions in plain
language and separate from the other ballot content, use of
separation/delineation marks, and print font and size.

-   The section on optical scan ballots addresses such issues as
    coordinating with printer(s), reviewing ballots for text relative to
    fold lines, timing mark positions, ink quality, bleed through, and
    paper opaqueness. Ballot on demand and chain of custody issues are
    also discussed.

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-   The touch screen section addresses such issues as the use of color
    and texture, instructions for ancillary input and feed back devices,
    the avoidance of three column screens, and recommendations for
    testing ballot style layouts.

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-   The audio ballot section provides guidelines for choosing
    synthesized or natural voices and male or female voices, using
    visually impaired persons to test the ballot, and maintaining
    uniformity of style and volume throughout the ballot.

In closing I would like to thank you for the opportunity to provide this
brief update to you. I am available to answer any questions you may
have.