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Ballot Design Best Practices
A summary of relevant ballot design principles, as described in the EAC document, Effective Designs for the Administration of Federal Elections (June 2007), with corresponding data elements from NIST Special Publication 1500-100: Election Results Common Data Format Specification, Revision 2.0 (December 2019).
This is the most common ballot design, described in pages 3.6 - 3.25 of the Effective Designs document. This "Version A" of the ballot provides ovals for voters to fill in to mark their selection. Version B. which is not covered here, uses two opposite-facing arrows that voters connect with a line to mark their choices.
- Election Information - appears in the ballot header and footer
- Ballot instructions - illustrated with sample graphics, does not share space with election questions (separate column)
- Ballot Navigation - includes page numbers (e.g. Page 3 of 5) in the header, and prompts (e.g. vote on the other side or next page) below the last election question on the page.
- Election Questions - includes contests, retentions, and ballot measures, plus a place for voters to mark their vote.
A brief description of how the components of a ballot appear on each page.
An English language (only) General Election Ballot page layout includes a header at the top of the page, with Election Information and page numbers (Ballot Navigation). The header appears on every page of a multi-page ballot.
Although it's not described in the text of the Effective Design document, ballots also may include a footer with Precinct, Ward, and Split identifiers, plus space for a poll worker's initials. This design element is depicted in the sample ballots, but no description or typography specification appears in the text.
The body of the ballot is usually divided into a three-column layout. The first column of the ballot (on the first page) contains only the Ballot Instructions. No Election Questions may appear in the same column as the Ballot Instructions, which may in turn span multiple colums if required -- although in the sample ballots, the instructions fit easily into the first column of the ballot.
The Ballot Questions appear in a new column immeditately following the instructions. Each Question starts with its own question header (e.g. "US Senator") followed by voting instructions (e.g. "Vote for 1") and then a list of candidates with the accompanying oval beside each one.
The most common form of a ballot question is the Contest question, where the voter selects one or more candidates from a list of choices, depending on the voting instructions for each contest.
Another form of Ballot Question is the Retention question, utilized to vote Yes or No on whether to retain an office holder for another term (typically a judge). The format of these types of questions follows that of a Contest question: Header, instructions, selection ovals for Yes or No instead of candidate names.
Finally, ballots may include Ballot Measure Questions, where a voter selects either Yes or No for a ballot measure. Like the other types of questions, Ballot Measures include a question header, voting instructions, and voting choices (yes or no). But they differ in two important ways:
- Ballot Measure Questions don't fit into columns; instead, the Ballot Measure section spans the width of the ballot (not including page margins).
- Ballot measures include a relatively long block of descriptive text, which describes the meaning of a Yes or No choice.
After the final ballot question that fits on the page, additional Ballot Instructions may appear, as needed, such as a prompt to continue voting on the next side or next page of the ballot, or a message that describes the voting is complete, such as "Thank you for voting! Please turn in your finished ballot." Instructions to continue to another page also include an arrow icon in a circle.
- Don't mix Ballot Instructions and Ballot Questions: instructions (not including prompts to continue or turn in your ballot) appear first, in a column (or columns) that don't contain any Ballot Questions.
- Ballot Questions should not span multiple columns, if at all possible. If a Ballot Question won't fit in a single column with another Ballot Question, each question should appear in its own column.