Equitable Ballot Design and Voter Education Materials

The report argues that poor ballot design and inaccessible education materials lead to higher rates of uncounted votes, particularly among marginalized populations. It provides specific guidelines for election officials to reduce overvotes and undervotes through better layout, plain language, and accessibility features for voters with limited English proficiency and disabilities.

• Poor ballot design leads to significant numbers of uncounted votes through overvotes, undervotes, and ballot roll-off, which can influence election outcomes.
• Residual vote rates are disproportionately higher in districts with larger populations of Black, Hispanic, low-income, less educated, and older voters due to faulty ballot design.
• The removal of straight-ticket voting options can increase wait times and ballot roll-off in nonpartisan contests, disproportionately affecting voters of color.
• Specific design flaws, such as splitting candidate lists into two columns or pages, increase the likelihood of overvotes and undervotes.
• Mail-in ballot rejections are often caused by design issues on envelopes, such as unclear signature lines; however, redesigns can effectively lower these rates, as seen in Pennsylvania.
• Voters with limited English proficiency (LEP) face barriers to participation, and while VRA Section 203 provides some protections, many jurisdictions fail to comply fully.
• Voters with disabilities experience significant disparities in turnout and face critical accessibility faults on government websites used to request mail-in ballots.
• Effective voter education is hindered by the use of complex legal language and a lack of consistency between sample ballots and official ballots.

APA

Gordon-Rogers, L., Latner, M., & Williams, C. (2024). Equitable Ballot Design and Voter Education Materials. Union of Concerned Scientists. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2025-01/Equitable%20Ballot%20Design_report_1.6.25%20update.pdf

Chicago

Gordon-Rogers, Liza, Michael Latner, and Christopher Williams. Equitable Ballot Design and Voter Education Materials. Union of Concerned Scientists, 2024. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2025-01/Equitable%20Ballot%20Design_report_1.6.25%20update.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Gordon-Rogers |first1=Liza |last2=Latner |first2=Michael |last3=Williams |first3=Christopher |title=Equitable Ballot Design and Voter Education Materials |publisher=Union of Concerned Scientists |date=August 2024 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2025-01/Equitable%20Ballot%20Design_report_1.6.25%20update.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{gordonrogers2024equitable, author = {Gordon-Rogers, Liza and Latner, Michael and Williams, Christopher}, title = {{Equitable Ballot Design and Voter Education Materials}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2024}, month = aug, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2025-01/Equitable%20Ballot%20Design_report_1.6.25%20update.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }