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
Article Contents
Introduction
Voting is both a right and a responsibility for U.S. citizens. However, if people do not understand how to use the ballot or what their options are, they may not succeed in casting their votes to match their intentions.
In 2002, the United States Congress passed the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) to improve voting systems and voters' access to ballots. HAVA gives the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce) responsibility for providing technical support to develop voting system standards. NIST, in turn, realized that research and best practices would be needed to set standards for language, design, usability, and accessibility of voting systems.
The study we are reporting in this article is part of NIST's efforts to provide research-based support for standards on ballot language.
What were we trying to learn?
In this study, we sought answers to 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?
What is plain language?
A document is in plain language when the users of that document can quickly and easily find what they need, understand what they find, and act appropriately on that understanding. (For more details, examples, and resources about plain language, see http://www.plainlanguage.gov/ and www.centerforplainlanguage.org.)
Here are eight of the most critical plain language guidelines for ballots:
- Be specific. Give the information people need.
- Break information into short sections that each cover only one point.
- Write short sentences.
- Use short, simple, everyday words.
- Address the reader directly with "you" or the imperative ("Do x.")
- Write in the active voice, where the person doing the action comes before the verb.
- Write in the positive. Tell people what to do rather than what not to do.
- Put context before action, "if" before "then."
Where did the traditional and plain language instructions come from for this study?
In previous work for NIST, the first author, Ginny Redish, a linguist and plain language/usability expert, reviewed more than 100 ballots from all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. The traditional language for Ballot A came from one or more of those ballots.
In that earlier project, Dr. Redish also analyzed the gap between the instructions on the ballots she reviewed and best practices in giving instructions (Redish, 2005). She then developed a set of guidelines for writing clear instructions for voters, focusing on the issues that arose in her earlier analysis (Redish & Laskowski, 2009). The plain language guidelines for Ballot B came from this document, which was originally presented to NIST in 2006.