The voting system, which was already critically failing many communities even before the outbreak of coronavirus, is in need of interventions and digital services to increase voter turnout.
The Opportunity
Research
13 New Yorkers were asked a series of questions regarding their voting experience and common barriers to entry around voting.
33% of participants ranked traveling to the polling place to be the most inconvenient part of the voting process.
In order to make informed voting decisions a citizen must do independent research.
Individuals don’t feel their vote’s impact, especially at the local level, halting motivation.
Objective
Many will resort to absentee ballots to avoid the spread of COVID-19, but the mail system may be overwhelmed during the pandemic.
The ballot is much like an exam scantron and generally tailored for those with a higher education.
The voting process has a lot of friction including registering to vote, traveling to a polling place, and learning about candidates.
User Journey
As a form of ideation, I distributed surveys in Pratt Institute’s student union gathering concepts to improve the voting system from a diverse set of perspectives (with the resources available). I condensed the ideas into directions.
- Votes are directly recorded without the need of physical counters.
- Minimizes the additional steps a voter takes to request and return an absentee ballot.
- Complete package with clear instructions and all tools necessary to complete the ballot.
- Prevents the spread of the virus through distancing.
- Reduces the need to travel to a polling place by intervening in a citizen’s typical daily commute.
- Gives individuals an immediate opportunity to cast their vote.
Conceptual Design
