Requires the use of a simple and easy to read typeface on paper ballots

4 Co-sponsors

• Tony Avella
• Adriano Espaillat
• Kevin S. Parker
• John L. Sampson

BILL NUMBER:S1928 REVISED 4/23/13

Title of bill

An act to amend the election law, in relation to the typeface to be used on paper ballots

Purpose

To make paper ballots more usable by the voting public through requirements that ballots use a simple and easy to read type, and be designed with a view towards usability, and by requiring that the State and New York City boards of elections, as well as those in the largest counties, have a full time employee on staff who is trained in ballot design and usability.

Summary of provisions

Section 1 of the bill amends election law section 7-106(2) to require that paper ballots use simple and easy to read type style, and that candidates names be printed in initial capital and lower case letters of at least 12 point bold type. It further amends election law section 7-106(2) to add a new subdivision 2a, which requires that the New York State and New York City boards of elections, as well as those in Erie, Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties have one full time employee on staff who is fully trained in effective ballot design and ballot usability. It also requires that such employee of the state board of elections be available to advise the other counties on the proposed design and usability of their ballots for primary, general and special elections.

Section 2 of the bill establishes the effective date.

Justification

Currently, election law section 7-106(2) does not contain any requirements as to ballot readability or usability, and requires that candidates' names appear in all capital bold type letters with no minimum type size, all of which have made many ballots used in New York City and elsewhere difficult for voters to read and use. With the introduction of paper ballots statewide in 2010, this problem was particularly acute. In fact, difficulty reading the ballot, especially because of small type size, was the single most common complaint following the 2010 general election.

The U.S. Election Assistance Commission's report on Effective Designs of Federal Elections, June 2007, Section 3: Optical Scan Ballots, in its best practices recommendations, includes the specific changes in the ballot requirements in this amendment to election law section 7-106(2). This report is referred to favorably by the Brennan Center's 2008 report, entitled Better Ballots, which also includes the changes made by this bill in its "Ballot Design Checklist".

These and other studies all stress the importance of ballot design and usability, yet, despite, their importance to the voters' ability to successfully select their candidates and cast their ballots, expertise in ballot design and usability is lacking within our boards of elections. No additional hiring should be necessary to meet the requirements for one full-time employee in the State board of elections, and one in the boards of elections of each of Our largest counties, to develop the necessary expertise in ballot design and usability. In fact, such expertise can largely be developed through

self study of the extensive amount of literature in this field, along with some training courses.

Legislative history

2011 - S. 609 - Referred to Elections 2012 - S. 609-A - Died in Rules Committee

Fiscal impact on the state

None.

Effective date

This act shall take effect on the first day of January next succeeding the date on which it has become a law.