Making Ballots More User Friendly: Recommendations Based on a Survey Experiment

Abstract

This paper takes the considerable variation in ballot design as a point of departure to ask which ballot features are preferred by voters. Using a discrete choice experiment as part of an online survey of 1200 German participants, we asked respondents to choose among fictious ballots that differed in terms of the information about the electoral system, information about the candidates, and the ballot design. The results show that respondents are opposed to lengthy explanations of the electoral system, but they are also critical when the explanation is too brief. Providing the candidates’ occupations and ages is welcomed, whereas candidate addresses are viewed with more skepticism. Overall, comprehension is the most important criterion for ballot evaluation. Based on the results, we discuss features of good ballots and present an example of a well-designed ballot.