Center for Civic Design

1/ What is usability testing? Usability testing is a tool for learning where people interacting with a design – such as a ballot – encounter frustration, and translating what you see and hear to make a better design that will eliminate those frustrations.

2/ Testing helps ensure that voters can vote the way they intend. Why should you test? When it is easy for voters to use a ballot, they are more likely to vote as they intend. That means fewer lost votes

3/ Put together a ballot, pick an interviewer, find voters, and find a place to watch them use the ballot. What do you need? Take notes. A clipboard can be handy. You probably want an envelope or a folder to hold the ballots (or other materials) from the test sessions.

4/ Test when you know what is going to be on the ballot or when something has changed. (Or when you know there are a lot of candidates in a specific contest.)

5/ Usability testing answers questions about how and why voters will use the ballot. Know why you are conducting a usability test. Usability tests can answer questions like: How easily and successfully do voters mark the ballot? What mistakes do voters make in marking the ballot?

6/ Start testing early with a few voters trying out the first versions of the ballot, one at a time.

7/ Test with what you have available. Test again when you have the final version.

8/ Voters for your usability tests are everywhere. Go to them.

9/ To run a usability test: 1. Introduce the session. 2. Give the voter the ballot. 3. Watch the voter vote. 4. Listen for questions (don’t answer them) and comments (write them down). 5. Thank the voter profusely.

10/ Watch and listen. Don’t teach. Don’t help. What is the role of the interviewer? As the interviewer, you guide the voter through the session, watch what the voter does, and take notes (if you can).

11/ Watch for mistakes, listen to questions, look for hesitations.

12/ Review what you saw and heard. Tally the types of problems voters had.