# Presentation: 345086

## Do paper trails help?CalTech/MIT Voting ProjectTed Selker selker@media.mit.edu

- Do paper trails help?CalTech/MIT Voting ProjectTed Selker selker@media.mit.edu

- Familiarity /(Complexity + import)
- Perceptual & Motor Accessibility
- Feedback
- Consider Review and Change

## Registration 1- 3 million +Registration is obsolete

- Confusing ballot 1 - 2 million
*Incumbent top on ballot?*

- Absentee ballots ??
*Rampant coercion?*

- Polling place operations 1 million
*Intermediaries improve confidence?*

- Nov 2000
-   Votes

- Registration 1- 3 million +*Registration is obsolete*

- Stolen or changed?
*People make mistakes*

- Caltech/MIT voting project
- Votes that could  counted...
*The process has* *to want the votes*

- Registration 1- 3 million +*Registration is obsolete?*

## Technology isn’t only problem

- Cook county card undercount variation .75 % to 39% no random!
- Paper			1.8%
- Punch Card		2.5
- Optical Scan		1.5
- Lever Machine		1.5
- DRE	 		2.3
- XML registration database verifier
- SAVE Secure Architecture for Voting Electronically
- Game machine Voting machines
- Smart Ballot design system

- Technology we have been making

- Token
- Pointers
- Slider
- Check Lever
- Ecology

## A+ checklist & Performance StandardsKnowledge and Action will help

- Usability standards history :Test with appropriate methods
- New designs compared to performance bar
- Many problems found in tests with few people
- Perceptual & Motor Accessibility
- Perception, Cognition, Action, Social factors
- Feedback
- Physical,Memory, Emotion
- Consider, Mark, Review, Change and Deposit - Coercion

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## Perception & Motor Problems in 2000 Elections

**Distinguish ability**
- Ambiguity: mislabel, association		Democrats under “Republican” NY
- Alignment 					Wrong odometer Boston
- Viewable height/position in list			Everywhere
- Poor audio: 1 ... to select gore 2...to select Bush 	Accessibility?
**Feedback and Side effects **
- Action					Several levers below referendum
- Undo ... action symmetry?			Punch cards, marked ballots...
- Visual 		(x not counted)		Optical Scan
- Completion					All but lever
**Validation**
- Counted					 Ballots, Registration - In trunks
**Mechanical**
- Difficult to pull, push, turn grab or reach		Philadelphia ...
- Dexterity, accuracy, 				Punch cards!
- Button pressure				DRE

## Interaction designMany Voting Problems Not Unique

- Perceptual
**Graphical**
- View ability,Color, contrast, size,
- Readability, Distinctions, Distinguishably
- Precognitive, cognitive,
- Feedback; Proprioceptive,
**Cognitive Interface**
- Precognitive recognition issues, Recognition VS Recall (except when conflicting)
- Short term memory 7 +- 2 ( in 2 d), depth of info 2 or three
- Cognitive load, syntactic, semantic. bored ... overloaded
**Social issues**
- You are doing Great...
- Your Vote Maters
- Androgynous Voice...
**Cognitive Styles**
- Verbal/ Visual
- Procedural/Conceptual
- Myers Briggs
- Physical, perceptual, psychological, neurological

## “Bad ballot design gave highest error rates” Keeting etal

- “Bad ballot design gave highest error rates” Keeting etal

- Two line names
- Size
- Crossing two columns
- Two-page designs
- Running partner in same font
- Position
- Language (YES NO)

- Ted Selker © 2002, MIT

- Voters oriented and able to focus

- Voters oriented and able to focus

- Voters oriented and able to focus

## Best of Breed Experienceregistration, authentication, inform, intention, counting

- Best practices ameliorate problems
- Getting filling out reviewing, changing and verifying deposit of ballot
- All Interfaces can be improved
- Voter scan cards/paper,
- take pictures of odometers...
- Current DRE’s can change software
- Hot voting machines in a trailer
- Best of breed interaction designers
- Shadows, short term memory
- Best of breed testing
- Test on 1 to 5 people first
- Different tests/people for different stages/purposes

## Problems have not been voter verifiable

- Brevard 4000		Back end software
- Volusia 16022		Back end software
- Boone County 10000	Back end software
- Washington State	Altered paper ballots
- Dallas	 		Destroyed paper ballots
- Many places		replaced paper ballots
- Georgia			Not close enough to recount
- Indiana	?		User interface  (Straight vote)
- Recent  Republican	shown on UI
- Mail in Absentee 	No secrecy

## Problems with a separate paper trail.People can’t verify their recipts: Chicago (2002, 2003)

- Connection broken
- Paper out
- Paper Jam
- Ink out
- Printer broken
- Paper looks different
- Different format than DRE
- Separate thing to look at
- Extra time & step for voting
- No way for ballot worker to help

- Lighting, readability
- Special needs (Dyslexia, ADHD, blind )
- Several extra steps for ballot worker
- Collecting the ballots
- Ballots could be exchanged
- Revoting a machine at end of day
- Rereading ballots

## Problems are normalExperience is not enough; metrics and interaction design expertise needed

- Admin & registration	20+% incorrect?
- 2 of 3 motor can be registered
- Setup 				Complex but uncommon
- Voting difficulty matters:
- Perceptual, Cognitive and Physical Special Needs
- 11PM voting (1 minute or only vote for...)
- Separate decision from information?
- Advocacy
- palm cards
- Absentee
- ...
- Backend
- Bear kept them from submitting ballots, behind a door
- Reporting tallies, Volusia...
- Un controlled computer rooms ...

## Ways to foil paper trails

- Disenfranchise in all the normal ways
- Registration, ballot design,
- Change, lose, or add paper
- Question paper result in any way
- Print what they want to see (but don’t check)

## Coersion?

*We* disagree so lets neither vote
- 15 years later one spouse had been voting all along
- Ballot marking parties at churches
*We* like this guy
- Said a 45 year old child to their parent in a voting booth
- Nursing homes
*They* have a right to vote
- Palm cards
- Precinct Captain
- Ballot layout
- Order on Ballot
- Stand in voters

- Humiliation,
- intimidation,
- hand over hand voting
- Misinformation
- Parallax and other physical access
- (arm extension)

## Defense in Depth?

- Registration?
- Access to polling machine
- Orienting and focusing to know
- No coercion (other hands, palm cards, money...)
- Actions and undo obvious and available
- Feedback that is interpretable
- Obvious chance to consider and change
- Demonstration that the vote was recorded

## Reference Platform: BrazilRenewed belief in government!!

**Electronic voting; 96, 98, 2000**
- 96 Unisys 	7% failure
- 98 Procomp
- 2000 Procomp 	.02% failure  106,000,000 votes
**Trusted Scientific organization  **
- Create requirements
**Trusted Technical organization **
- Create reference platform
**Companies (5)**
- Create demonsratable  products for bid
**Government election officials **
- Create open viewing and decision of vendor

- Ted Selker © 2002, MIT

## What will improve Voting 

- Follow Brasil’s example (assoicate with best scientists)
- Separate Election commission, Equipment manufactures and design activities
- Funded requirements gathering team outside election commission
- Funded reference platform coding team outside election
- Equipment inexpensive and replaceable through open competitions
- Performance based standards:
- All standards are relative to best of breed

## Bringing in the HCI communityTed Selker, technologistSelker@media.mit.edu

- Bringing in the HCI communityTed Selker, technologistSelker@media.mit.edu

- Doug Jones				Iowa Election Board
- Systems and  ballot design
- Connie McCormack  			LA Registrar
- What happens and what registrars want
- Clyde Terry				NH Disabilities Council
- Universal Design
- Ben Bederson			UMD HCI Lab
- How It could look
- Cliff Nass				Stanford Communication Dept
- Work with me please...
- John Cugini				NIST Visualization Lab
- Focusing on Voting and usability
- Paul Herrnson			UMD Political Science
- Focusing on Voting and usability
- Ted Selker				CalTech/MIT Voting  Technology Project
- Demonstrating usability improvements
**Eric A. Fischer**, 			Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress s, efischerR@crs.loc.gov
**Benjamin  B. Bederson**, 			Human-Computer Interaction Lab, University of MD, bederson@cs.umd.edu
**Conny Mccormack, ****	****	****	**Registrar-Recorder /County Clerk, LA County CA , _cmccorma@rrcc.co.la.ca.us_
**Clifford Nass**, 			Department of Communications, Stanford University,
- Ted Selker				CalTech/MIT Voting  Technology Project

- Workshop  on Elections Standards Technology Conference 1/31/2002

- ACM CHI Pannel on User interface inVoting 1/31/2003

- NIST 12/11/2003

## New Technology and TestingSorry partisans;  Defense in Depth

- Registration and Registration Checking
- Polling place worker training materials
- LA simple procedures, Chicago vague concepts
- Ballot design (guidelines, experts and testing)
- Simple voting technology that makes it easy
- Secure Architecture for Voting Electronically?
- Specially handled Standard game machines or PCs ?
- Never before used
- Each one has its own CD
- Funded innovation everywhere (contracts & prizes)
- ...Information and long voting times could reduce coercion