Redesigning the Voter Experience in NYC
Voting is the bedrock of American democracy. But all too often this most basic act of civic engagement is fraught with challenges.
Poll site lines are unwieldy, signs are confusing, check-in processes are inefficient, poll workers are undertrained, voting machines are insufficient, and technology is poorly utilized. When voting becomes problematic and frustrating, political participation suffers. As a nation, the United States expends enormous resources identifying, targeting, and delivering voters to the polls. Understanding and improving the voter experience at the polls merits an effort as well.
So we asked…
We built PollWatch to help answer this question. PollWatch is a nonpartisan platform that enables anyone with a smartphone to live report problems at poll sites. All reports are posted to a public online map, alerting other voters, journalists, and election officials of issues in real time. Using PollWatch, voters literally have the power in the palms of their hands to take immediate action against challenges at poll sites.
We found that…
Deploying PollWatch during the 2012 election cycle in New York City, we received hundreds of reports detailing the good, the bad, and the ugly of voting in the five boroughs.
“The lines were confusing and long. The poll workers were confused and had no idea what was going on. One of the scanners broke… It was a mess.”
In particular, we learned that poll sites are ill-suited to handle peak voting periods. We also learned that relatively quick and inexpensive solutions could go a long way toward improving the voter experience.
And here’s what we’re doing about it…
We are using the insights gained through this trial to engage the New York City Board of Elections in a conversation about redesigning poll sites to be more user-friendly. The health of our democracy demands a more fluid and efficient voter experience. We believe PollWatch is a first step toward turning this vision into reality.
view a summary of findings
download
