From the Ventura County Star at http://www.insidevc.com/vcs/county_news/article/0,1375,VCS_226_2293640,00.html
Graphic designer, others say recall ballot confusing
By Molly Freedenberg, mfreedenberg@insidevc.com
September 24, 2003
With more than 100 candidates still in the race for governor in the recall election, there's little doubt the ballot could be confusing. But in Ventura County, some think bad ballot design has made it even worse.
After receiving sample ballots in the mail, some locals said finding the question about the recall was difficult, at best.
Though the issue of whether to recall Gov. Gray Davis is the reason for holding the election on Oct. 7, graphic designer Gunnar Swanson said the ballot's design buries the question.
On the sample ballot, all three measures up for a vote—Propositions 53 and 54, and the Davis recall—are listed on the first page.
But the propositions are marked by large bold numbers, indentations and introductions in a bold, all-capitals font, the Ventura resident pointed out.
The recall question has no number and no indent, the only bold font is Gray Davis' name and the line dividing it from Proposition 54 is broken—indicating it could be a secondary question related to the proposition.
“From a physiological standpoint, it draws the eye less,” said Swanson, who runs a design firm in Ventura and teaches at Loyola Marymount University.
“And if you look at visual structure as rhetoric, basically it says Proposition 53 is important, Proposition 54 is important,” and the recall isn’t, he said.
But it's not only experts, like 25-year-veteran Swanson, who find fault with the ballot design.
David Mould, a Simi Valley retailer, also said the document was confusing.
“I didn't even notice it (the recall question) was there at first,” Mould, 57, said. “It looks insignificant the way it’s hidden away. It should be the first thing you see.”
Neither Swanson nor Mould thought the ballot was designed intentionally to bury the recall question, but both thought it was an oversight by the county not to make the question more visible.
Representatives in the county Elections Division, though, denied the ballot’s design was confusing.
“There are only three items on the whole page. I can't see how you can call it (the recall issue) buried,” said Bruce Bradley, assistant registrar.
He added that ballots are designed using a template that complies with state regulations. Using different fonts and formats wasn’t an option, he said.
But he also said that within those restrictions, each county designs its own ballot.
Other counties, such as Kern and Los Angeles, led the ballot with the recall question. That question was then followed by the list of candidates running to replace Gov. Gray Davis if he is recalled. The propositions are last on the ballot.
Bradley listed the measures according to when they were approved for election, he said. But Swanson and Mould think they should be listed according to importance.
“You can't please everyone,” Bradley said.
Though Swanson and Mould are very different from each other—for one thing, Mould supports the recall and Swanson doesn’t—both agree the ballot is flawed.
“It's not bad if they (local voters) don't vote on the recall because they don't want to,” Swanson said. “But if it’s because they can’t quickly or easily figure out how to vote on the recall . . . people have been robbed of their right to vote.”
Some people might not think the design of the ballot is so important, Swanson said, but that’s another part of the problem.
“As a society, we don’t take visual things seriously,” Swanson said. For example, he explained, if there were a problem with the choice of words on the ballot, there’d be a much louder uproar.
He agreed that because visual media is so easily manipulated, people may just assume the visual is untrustworthy. But, he said, people believe what they see anyway.
“In the same way, they assume politicians are going to lie in their speeches, but they believe them anyway,” he said.
If people have problems with font or format issues on the ballot, though, Bradley said, they’d have to take their complaints to the state.
Bradley finds the whole issue of ballot design surprising.
“I never thought it would be controversial,” he said
[end of article] For image of the ballot in question download a PDF at http://www.gunnarswanson.com/ballot.pdf
