Recent work by two friends and colleagues

The Center for Civic Design, led by Whitney Quesenbery

• Field Guides for election officials — short, easy-to-use booklets based on solid research
• The Anywhere Ballot — a plain language, clear design ballot, based in part on the NIST research
• Other projects

My earlier research funded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

You can get to the following papers from the NIST Voting publications page.

Redish, J. C., Chisnell, D., Newby, E., Laskowski, S., and Lowry, S., 2009, Report of Findings: Use of Language in Ballot Instructions, NISTIR 7556. (pdf)

Redish, J. C. and Laskowski, S., 2009 (originally prepared 2006), Guidelines for Writing Clear Instructions and Messages for Voters and Poll Workers, NISTIR 7596. (pdf)

Redish, J. C., 2005, Review of the gap between instructions for voting and best practice in providing instructions, Task 1 report to NIST. (pdf)

An article based on the NIST studies

Redish, J. C., Chisnell, D., Newby, E., Laskowski, S., and Lowry, S., 2010, Plain language makes a difference when people vote, Journal of Usability Studies, volume 5, issue 3, May, 81-103. (pdf)

Other useful resources on usability and accessibility in voting