Here are 2 sources on how the layout of ballots can affect how people vote. Even though it's probably not a serious problem, it's interesting in that I think economists probably tend to overlook problems like these. Daljit Dhadwal First Source: > http://www.ruddick.com/tim/ballot/ Shows the ballot, > with suggested redesigns and references to document design sources. > No doubt election supervisors and ballot designers in the nation > (most of whom are not professional in document design) will pay > very close attention in 2004. > Second Source: > Date: Thu, 09 Nov 2000 16:15:51 -0800 > From: Don Dillman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Palm Beach Ballot > > Yesterday I was interviewed by an AP reporter who faxed me a copy of > the Palm Beach County ballot and interviewed me a few minutes later. > I was quoted in her article that appeared today in a number of media > outlets, where I was identified as being from the American Association > for Public Opinion Research. Two things seemed apparent to me after > the phone call. One was that I was likely to be called by other media > people and asked to react, and second, that the visual design issues, > at least as I see them, are somewhat complex. > > Consequently, I decided to put together a written statement concerning > the problems I think the ballot exhibits, which I am inserting below > in this message. I am sending this to AAPORNET partly because of the > number of messages that have appeared about the ballot in the last two > days. Also I want to make it clear to the members of AAPOR that I am > speaking as an individual on this issue, and not as a representative > of AAPOR or my employer, Washington State University. Thus, I > have added what I hope is a clarifying statement that this statement > represents my personal opinions based on past research and experiences > in the development of self-administered questionnaires. > > November 9, 2000 > > Statement by Don A. Dillman on Palm Beach County Florida Ballot > > > Several people have asked for my opinion on whether the format of > the November 7, 2000, general election ballot in Palm Beach County, > Florida, resulted in more people voting for Buchanan that had intended > to do so. This statement is in response to those requests. > > I cannot say with certainty whether the format of this ballot affected > a certain number of people who thus voted by mistake for Pat Buchanan, > while intending to vote for another candidate. That would require > knowledge of what specific people did in the voting booth Tuesday, > which I don't have. However, based on my experiences and past > research concerning how the visual format of questionnaires affects > respondents to surveys, I believe it is likely that certain visual > features of the ballot resulted in some individuals who wished to vote > for Gore inadvertently punching the second hole in the column, thus > resulting in a vote for Buchanan. These visual attributes may also > have resulted in double punches as people attempted to correct their > error. However, I do not think that voters who intended to vote for > Bush were similarly affected. > > I believe this outcome occurred because of the joint effects of > several undesirable features of the Palm Beach County ballot, rather > than a single attribute. These factors include: (1) the listing of > some candidates for President on the left-hand page of the ballot, > while others were listed in a separate group on the right-hand page; > (2) use of a single column of circles between the pages to register > one's vote, regardless of which page contained the candidate's > name; (3) the lack of familiarity some people may have had with how > to answer a punch ballot printed in this format; (4) the likelihood > that most people knew which candidate they wanted to vote for prior > to seeing any of the choices on the ballot; (5) the location of the > presidential choices on the first pages of the ballot; and (6) the > visual process people typically follow when registering preferences > on a survey questionnaire or election ballot when it is unnecessary > to read all choices (names of presidential candidates, for example) > before registering one's vote. In order to mark their ballot, it > was necessary for people to insert their paper ballot underneath the > booklet that showed the ballot choices. They were then required to > use a stick-pin answering device to punch through a circle on the > ballot to make a hole in the paper ballot. > > When people open and/or begin to read material printed in a booklet > format, they tend to look first at the left-hand page and focus > their attention there. Because this is a ballot in which most people > expect to vote on most or all of the choices, it is also likely that > they would expect to answer the questions in order. It is therefore > likely that many voters began reading the left-hand page without > first looking at the second page and seeing what material was printed > there. Thus, they may have been unaware that some of the candidates > for president were listed on the opposite page. > > Most people who completed the ballot knew who they wanted to vote for > prior to reading the list of names. Thus, rather than attempting to > read all of the answer possibilities before marking their choice, they > simply looked for the name of the candidate for whom they wished to > vote. The typical procedure would be to start at the top of the list > and read downwards until the preferred candidate was found. > > After reading the first candidate's name (Bush) on the left-hand > page, people who wanted to vote for him should have been guided to the > answer column by the number and an arrow. That circle was also the > first (or top) circle in the answer column. It therefore seems quite > unlikely that the voter would by-pass the first circle and mark the > second circle, thereby voting for Buchanan, by mistake. > > In contrast, people who wanted to vote for Gore, and had just seen > Bush's name, would be expected to go straight down the page as they > searched for Gore's name. After finding it, people are likely to > have moved their fingers and thumb that held the stick-pin punching > device to the appropriate punching location. It is likely that > in the process of doing this some people (particularly those who > are right-handed) did not see the number and arrow pointing to the > appropriate answer circle because it was obscured by their hand. > They may have also concluded that the second hole in the column was > the correct one to punch, simply because Gore was the second candidate > on the page. Thus, both the locational feature (being second) and > mechanics of answering seem likely to have worked together in a way > that led some people to inadvertently punch the second hole (Buchanan > choice) rather than the third hole (Gore choice). > > The possibility that some circles in the column of possible answers > applied to Buchanan (on the next page) is unlikely to have occurred to > some respondents. It is most unusual for any ballot or questionnaire > to list choices to the first page to the right of the names, while > choices to the second page are listed to the left of the names, and > in addition to have all of them listed in a single column. Therefore, > I would expect that some respondents had no idea that any of the > choices in the answer column applied to the next page instead of > to the candidates on page one. This problem was accentuated by the > presidential preference being listed on the first page of the ballot, > before the respondent had figured out, through experience, exactly how > the ballot worked. > > It does seem likely that some respondents who marked the second circle > would have noticed that it was not aligned with the Gore box in the > same way as the first circle was aligned with the Bush box. However, > among those who noticed the different alignment this feature may have > been discounted, because of their having to link together physically > separate components (the actual paper ballot and the booklet listing > candidate names) and the association of the second circle in the > column with the second candidate (Gore) choice. > > I would also expect that some ballots were double punched (Gore and > Buchanan) as voters started to punch the second circle, realized they > were making an error, and attempted to recover from it. > > Despite the visual and mechanical problems that individually > and jointly increase the likelihood that Gore preference voters > unintentionally and unknowingly voted for Buchanan, the nature of the > problem is such that it would not affect most voters. Most people are > able to "figure-out" how to answer questions when they are presented > in a visually inappropriate way, as was done in this situation. > However, I am also confident that some Gore-preference voters would > have made the error described above. At the same time, and for the > reasons described above, Bush-preference voters were not likely to > make the same mistake. > > 1Don A. Dillman is the Thomas S. Foley Distinguished Professor of > Government and Public Policy at Washington State University in > Pullman, Washington. The opinions expressed here are his own and > should not be attributed to his employer, Washington State University, > or to the American Association for Public Opinion Research, for which > he now serves as Vice-President and President-Elect. Background on > the theory and research that lead to the interpretations reported > here are published in Chapter 3 of Dillman, Don A. 2000 Mail and > Internet Surveys: The Tailored Design Method, New York: John Wiley; > and Jenkins, Cleo R. and Don A. Dillman 1997 "Towards a Theory of > Self-Administered Questionnaire Design," Chapter 7 of Lyberg, Lars, et > al., Survey Measurement and Process Quality, (pp.165-196,) New York: > Wiley Interscience. > > *************************** > Don A. Dillman, Social and Economic Sciences Research Center > and Departments of Sociology and Rural Sociology > Washington State University > Pullman, WA 99164-4014 > phone: 509-335-1511 > fax: 509-335-0116 > e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://survey.sesrc.wsu.edu/dillman/ > ***************************
