Rapid response for voter protections

I led the rapid design of a form to help voters fix their ballots in crucial swing states in the 2020 Presidential election.

Partner

Democratic National Committee (DNC)

My role

Product design lead
UX research lead

BIDEN CAMPAIGN PROJECT TEAM

Product manager
Engineer
Copy writer

Problem

Many people’s ballots were at risk of not being counted in the 2020 election.

A lot more people voted by mail in 2020. Many for the first time. A COVID vaccine wasn’t available yet and it was risky to stand in crowded lines.

Because more people were mailing in their ballots, more ballots were being rejected. Laws vary by state, but ballots are often rejected for harmless reasons like missing an envelope signature or a signature mismatch. These ballot rejections disproportionately affect Black, Latino, young, and women voters.

In a razor thin election, it was crucial that everyone’s vote counted.

Approach

I led the rapid design of a form to help voters fix their ballots in crucial swing states.

Designed a responsive, mobile-first form for completing and securely signing an affidavit in one business day.
Worked in close collaboration with a product manager and engineers to ensure feasibility and assess and remove blockers for fast delivery.
Led heuristic evaluation with several UX design peers to identify and address any usability issues.
Managed a lightning fast usability testing sprint with campaign friends and family.

RESULTS

The “Fix Your Ballot” tool made sure hundreds of votes were counted in states that were decided by only a few thousand.

DNC and Biden campaign organizers went door to door with the form, helping voters fill and sign an affidavit to ensure their vote counted.

The form was used in three crucial swing states: Florida, Georgia, and Michigan. Joe Biden won Georgia and Michigan. He won Georgia by a historically tight margin, fewer than 12,000 votes.

A series of mobile web pages arranged on a blue backdrop. They show the different form pages of filling out and signing an affadavit to fix your ballot.

The “Fix Your Ballot” tool was a form for completing an affidavit. This process is also known as ballot curing. Voters filled in their information, uploaded photos of their ID and signature, and attested that the information was true.