After trying the online demo it's clear (to me) that ES&S have never heard of usability! I have done a lot of work on touch-screen systems and know that it is possible to design an application that can be easily used by 'untrained users'.

The Risks Digest 11 Sep 2002
Problems in MD led 4 counties there to
commission a report from UMD, which revealed serious reliability concerns,
due to "catastrophic failure," "malfunction," and "unusability"

Posted by: Mac on September 16, 2002 03:22 AM

 

2: Select -- Why is the checkbox for each candidate at the far right? Why force the user to line up a box at one edge of the screen with a name at the other end? Why not simply begin each line with a checkbox, followed immediately by a name?

Why say "Vote for not more than two" when you could say, "Vote for two maximum" or "Vote for two only." Multiple choice questions I answered on high school tests used the latter style of wording. Quite simple.

Would supplying only the last name of a write-in candidate be legal? If not, prompt for first and last name.

I would like to see some non-linear navigation. If I want to vote for propositions first, right now I'm forced to vote in the one order the ballot was laid out in. Let me jump around. Then at the confirmation page, alert me to any races that I have not voted on, in case I missed them. OK, ok, I agree non-linear may be too confusing for many people.

3: Review / VOTE -- I expect the 'vote' button to be at the bottom of the page where the 'previous' and 'next' buttons are. Filing my vote is the next step, so I'm expecting the vote command to replace the 'next' button.

In terms of the labeling, they could really take a lesson from Amazon. Treat it like a web shopping cart. Make it really clear before you view the summary that you'll be looking at a summary, and that you have not yet filed your vote. Avoid some people incorrectly assuming the summary page is a vote confirmation page.

I'd like to see the confirmation page do something more to alert me to races I did not vote in. Uhh, flashing text? Something. On a ballot with, say, 20 races, I might miss the notification that currently exists.

Why is the thank-you on the last page bilingual? I already told the machine I speak English. That also bothers me on my bank's ATM. Every single time I log in, I get asked which language to use.

Posted by: Jack on September 16, 2002 03:42 AM

 

Also, the keyboard layout they chose is a good one for touch-screens in theory. But when you actually test this keyboard with users I can guarantee (I hope Ron isn't reading this) that a standard Qwerty layout will work much better in practice.

If this is how technology is used to improve democracy, then give me a show of hands any day.

Posted by: Mac on September 16, 2002 04:08 AM

 

Also, are the instructions at the far left just for our benefit, or does the voter see them too? It looks like they're only for us. If so, they must be important -- the voter should see them too.

The 'next' and 'previous' buttons could use some arrows for added meaning.

Read this error message: "If you wish to select a different selection in this contest, you must first de-select a previous selection by moving to that selection and pressing the button."

How about: "If you wish to change your vote, uncheck one of the boxes for this race, then select a different box." (Do not use the same word five times in the same breath... and do not use the word "button" to refer to an on-screen area because it could be confused with real, physical buttons that the voting machine appears to have.)

How can someone increase the font size so that it's easier to read, if needed?

On the summary page, rename the page title from "Ballot Summary" to "Summary of Ballot." The keyword should come first whenever possible. If the person is skimming instead of reading, that page title may not otherwise be understood properly.

Posted by: Jack on September 16, 2002 04:24 AM

 

I have just mailed the following to Michael P. Limas, Senior VP, Operations & Finance ES&S.

To: Michael P. Limas mplimas@essvote.com
From: Chris McEvoy chris@firstcircle.co.uk
Subject: iVotronic Usability

Michael,

you may be interested in a discussion taking place on Webword.com about the usability (or unusability) of the iVotronic system.
URL[ http://webword.com/weblog/000875.html ]

This could be a good opportunity for ES&S to address some of the concerns that the usability community have about your iVotronic system by joining the discussion.

Regards

Chris McEvoy

Posted by: Mac on September 16, 2002 04:56 AM

 

And this google [ usability site:www.essvote.com ] is illuminating!

Posted by: Mac on September 16, 2002 05:09 AM

 

There are never dumb users - only dumb designers!

Posted by: JB on September 16, 2002 11:20 AM

 

Jack has some good observations, especially: Why is the Vote button at the top? Why does the demo require instructions (that appear to not be available in the actual product)?

Still, judging from what little information is available, I think the problems with the product are in the system set-up and maintenance. Any usability problems with the product (properly installed and maintained) are likely to be minor in comparison. Still, I can't help but wonder what a usability test of regular operation with seniors would uncover... Tests focusing on set-up and maintenance would no doubt be much more interesting.

Because of the nature of the technology, the product is far less reliable that the previous solution. I don't see anyone asserting high-reliability...

Posted by: Ron Zeno on September 16, 2002 01:48 PM

 

I am usually pretty savvy about predicting where things will be if they aren't immediately noticible where I expected them to be, but that Vote button - whew! What the hell is it doing at the top of the screen? It's very small, too. It should be at the bottom and very large.

Other than that, their system isn't too bad. I like the suggestions about check-box-left-of-name, but the format they have isn't so difficult that users wouldn't be able to navigate it. I personally feel it's the "Next" button that suddenly changes to "Review Ballot" (what, am I done?) and the Vote button.

Also, I have noticed that people in kiosk machines respond better to (a) buttons or (b) a stylus. I've noticed that people really dislike touching screens directly. Sometimes it's a cleanliness issue, but most often it's just because it "feels wrong."

Posted by: Lydia on September 16, 2002 04:59 PM

 

Oops, I cut off my last sentence. I meant to ask if anyone else has noticed a reluctance to use touch screens?

Posted by: Lydia on September 16, 2002 05:00 PM

 

This is a simple situation that can be resolved. The company that designed this has users teaching themselves that all navigational buttons are at the bottom. All the voting action are in the middle of the screen.

All the company needs to do is move the vote button to either the bottom right on the last screen or move it to the middle of the screen as that is where all voting actions take place.

The funny thing is that even after reading Lydia's comments and going through the demo...I was lost for the next action when it came to vote because I was used to using middle and bottom for navigation and action.

Posted by: JB on September 16, 2002 07:25 PM

 

My resolution is set at 1024x768.

WHERE THE HELL IS THE VOTE BUTTON? (100k image)

Insane! Here's something really, really funny. I thought all of you were insane. The first time through, I thought it was easy. No joke. Furthermore, being smug, I decided to take another look at the demonstration so that I could come back here and slap you all around for being little cry babies. That was a mistake. The joke was on me. I realized that I never voted the first time through the demonstration! Instead, I simple got to the end of the demo and reviewed my vote, thinking that "Review Ballot" meant submit my vote. That's right folks, spank me...I never voted.

Can you blame me? As my screenshot indicates, the "Review Ballot" button really does seem to be the most logical submission button. The Vote button at the top makes no sense as others have indicated.

(Isn't usability fun?)

Posted by: John S. Rhodes on September 16, 2002 08:07 PM

 

OK, one more thing. It has nothing to do with the topic at hand, but it has everything to do with how people use the links bar in Internet Explorer. If you take another look at my screenshot,, you will notice that I have several links running along the top of the browser. These are links to 14 different web pages. This is how I very quickly get to my favorite pages. Between these links and my Google toolbar, I never need to visit the Yahoo directory, use my Favorites, or anything else. I just recently realized that I've been able to make my browser my own portal. No single web site owns my ass, except for maybe WebWord. I was wondering how other folks felt about their situation. My guess is that we're all unique and that we all have our own dashboards and portals. I find it hard to believe that any single web site, or even small cluser of web sites, could be the right answer. AOL might be close for some people, but I think that is less and less true every day. That's all. You can move along now or add your comments. Your choice.

p.s. "No single web site owns my ass, except for maybe WebWord." I made myself laugh writing that. When is the last time you wrote something that you laughed at? It feels good. Give it a try.

Posted by: John S. Rhodes on September 16, 2002 08:15 PM

 

JB, I totally agree - I froze when it came to voting, too. Instructions said "click vote button" or something like that and I hunted around for a bit before I thought to look up. Who would put it up there? Inconceivable! It's the first part I was referring to when I said it wasn't so bad.

Posted by: Lydia on September 17, 2002 12:33 PM

 

We used touch-screen voting machines for the first time where I vote, too. An attendant provided a short introduction, then I voted. I don't remember having any difficulty figuring out what to do, but the displays were designed differently from those shown here.

I do remember having an uneasy feeling while voting--hoping I wouldn't hit the wrong button & cast my votes before I had reviewed them.

I wonder how many Floridians felt the same uneasiness? Also, I'm curious about the demographics of the areas where the worst problems occurred. Usability problems can be compounded by language difficulties and by fear of and unfamiliarity with technology.

Posted by: jan on September 17, 2002 01:14 PM

 

The way they do error messages is irritating. Why allow me to make a mistake and then drag me off to another screen where you assume I'm going to read or understand anything? If I can only check one item, only let me check one item. I know it 'violates' the true archetype of check boxes, but if I can only choose one item in a column, when I try to choose the second, the second should become selected and the first deselected. (These are only sort-of checkboxes anyway since they can't all be checked.)

The design had the feel of something made by developers who were trying really hard to be user friendly by providing lots of error-correcting mechanisms, instead of an intelligent design that prevents errors.

Posted by: Bernard on September 17, 2002 07:34 PM

 

No, you're all wrong, this is the answer:

Posted by: Timo on September 19, 2002 10:53 AM

 

I think you'll find that you don't actually vote for 'none'. The shapes should be labelled as well, and their seems to be no security mechanism to prevent multiple voting.

All in all it should work very well.

Posted by: Mac on September 20, 2002 03:27 AM