An Assessment of Voting Technology and Ballot Design

University Of Maryland, College Park, College Park MD

Investigators

Abstract

This grant will support an assessment of information technologies relative to on-line voting and ballot design. This is a particularly relevant topic given the confusing processes and outcomes of the 2000 national elections. The project will bring together social/political scientists with computing/information scientists to study ability of voters to accurately express their intentions, voter ease in completing ballots, user interfaces, and impact on voter turnout. A variety of data collections methods will be used: laboratory experiments, expert reviews, and field tests. The project will be guided by interactions with practitioners who administer voting process, and with companies which build and market electronic voting machines.