Ballot Design Review

Today I cast my overseas ballot. The designer in me couldn't help but be annoyed at the horrible design associated with these punch cards. Allow me to elaborate on what I mean...

The trick to making a clear design where the number and the dot are an obvious correct pair, is through close proximity and alignment. So I'll share with you what's wrong with the current ballot design of today (A) and the alternative solutions.

In design A, the dot and the number are the same distance from the dots and number above, below and to the left and right. In other words, pick any number and there are a potential 4 dots the same distance away from that number.

The "designer" staggered the numbers so that the dot wouldn't line up horizontally with the numbers to the right or left of them, but in actually, moves that dot closer to the number than the other dots now.

To correct that problem, a box has been drawn around each number, cluttering the page. The other funny thing is that because of a visual trick our eyes play, that line between the number and a dot below it, makes the bottom dot look closer to the number above it which is incorrect. In the end, without the boxes, the dot the least visually close to the number is the correct one to punch for your candidate. And yes, this is the ballot design in use today.

B merely puts the right number closest to the right dot and keeps the boxes. But do we really need to draw a box around each number to make it the clearest design? No. In fact it makes it less clear.

C takes the same position of the numbers and dots of Design B and removes the boxes to show if the design can hold on its own. It can't so well. Just look at the number 96 and the dot directly aligned to the right of it. Oops.

D removes the staggering, and with more space between each number-dot pair would be pretty simple to read. You don't have to double-check to know what's right. But space is usually too precious to be spent on clarity for a ballot and it wouldn't be approved because of that.

The difference between E and F is that the numbers are aligned left on E and aligned right on F. Aligning right helps the number to always be closer to the right dot. The clear problem here is that you have dots being an equal distance from the same number. (notice #11 and #15 as a comparison)

G and H are only different because of the line to separate the columns (instead of having to use extra space, draw a line). The line really clarifies the number-dot pairs, which makes H the winner.

H wins for a couple other reasons:
a) it saves more space by not having to create a gap above and below numbers, thus fitting in 3 times the amount of holes vertically
b) the dot closest to any number is the right one to punch for your candidate.

But what if there is a ballot that is perforated incorrectly? Aha, that's what the dots are for. The dot is to indicate two things:
1) where to punch
2) to line it up with the right number, in case the place to punch isn't exactly center, but the dot will always line up with the number and at least be on part of the perforation

So, seeing that, I think that each dot should be a miniature number representing the right place to punch, giving the voter further reason to not second-guess. After all might as well use the ink to say something beneficial or don't use the ink at all. :)

You can't mistake which hole to punch here!

And lastly, I think punch ballots should be eliminated altogether. But if we must use them, we should invest in a better design of them. And that's how the mind of a designer works when she votes. This took only a few minutes to find a better solution, yet these ballots have been ignored for years despite the complications with their design in several states. I think we should vote to have the design of these ballots reviewed by information design specialists...that is if we take extra care to make sure we punch the right hole.