Plain Language Makes a Difference When People Vote
Janice (Ginny) Redish, Dana Chisnell, Sharon Laskowski, and Svetlana Lowry
Journal of Usability Studies, Volume 5, Issue 3, May 2010, pp. 81 - 103
Abstract
The authors report on a study in which 45 U.S. citizens in three geographic areas and over a range of ages and education levels voted on two ballots that differed only in the wording and presentation of the language on the ballots.
The study sought to answer three questions:
- Do voters vote more accurately on a ballot with plain language instructions than on a ballot with traditional instructions?
- Do voters recognize the difference in language between the two ballots?
- Do voters prefer one ballot over the other?
In addition to voting on the two ballots, study participants commented on pages from the two ballots and indicated their preference page-by-page and overall.
For this study, the answer to all three questions was "yes." Participants performed better with the plain language ballot. Their comments showed that they recognized plain language. They overwhelmingly preferred the plain language ballot.
The authors also discuss issues that arose on both ballots from problems with straight-party voting, with mistaking one contest for another, and with reviewing votes. Based on the study results, the authors provide guidance on language to use on ballots. This article includes links to the two ballots, other materials used in the study, and the full report with more details.
Practitioner’s Take Away
The following are key points from this study:
- Language matters. Study participants voted more accurately on the ballot with plain language than on the ballot with traditional language.
- Education matters. Level of education correlated with accuracy. Voters with less education made more errors.
- Location, gender, age, and voting experience do not matter. None of those factors was a statistically significant correlate of accuracy.
- People recognize plain language. After they voted both ballots, participants were shown pairs of pages (the A and B versions of the same ballot page) and were told, "Notice that the instructions on these pages are different. Please compare them and comment on them." Participants commented that certain words were "simpler," "more common," and "easier to understand."
- People prefer plain language. Asked for an overall preference between the two ballots, 82% (37 of 45) chose Ballot B, the plain language ballot.
- Straight-party voting confuses many people. Even on the plain language ballot, participants made errors related to straight-party voting.
- Some voters do not have a good grasp of levels of government. Many of the errors on both ballots related to confusing U.S. Senate with State Senator and County Commission with City Council.
- Usability professionals can help make ballots and other voting materials more usable through research and consulting.
- Even in a summative test, usability specialists often see ways to improve the product for its next release. In the study reported here, the plain language ballot did significantly better than the ballot with traditional language. Nonetheless, after watching participants work with the ballot, we realized we could make the language even clearer. We include recommendations for an even better plain language ballot.
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Plain Language Makes a Difference When People Vote