Voting and Usability
Usability and
Ballot Design Consultants
Request from the National Institute of Standards
and Technology (NIST)
The list of usability and design
consultants to work with local elections officials was created at the
request of NIST, working as a technical advisor to the Election
Assistance Commission. UPA is proud to be able to assist in this important
work.
Dear
Whitney:
As part of their responsibilities under the Help America Vote Act,
the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) is assembling a list of
"suggested best practices" for local election officials
in the form of checklists. The idea of the check lists is to offer
usable guidance in time for the upcoming November elections.
As the NIST representative on the EAC-led group assembling the guidelines,
I suggested a check list item that encouraged election officials
to consult/contract with a usability professional on ballot design
improvement (per the NIST Human Factors Report to Congress recommendation).
My suggestion was heartily endorsed.
Now, we need the UPAs help. Would it be possible to create a list
of UPA members willing to consult on ballot design accessible off
your UPA main web site? I would suggest indexing the list by state.
we would need the list available in early July.
Many thanks for agreeing to canvas your membership for participation.
It's all in the noble cause of democracy!
Best regards
Allan C. Eustis
Project Leader- NIST Voting Systems Standards
May
28, 2004 |
