State Election Web Sites Have Room To Improve
Posted on October 20th, 2008 by Mike Sachoff in the Articles section
State elections Web sites are often too difficult for voters to find and use to answers questions about whether they are registered to vote, where to vote and what will be on the ballot, according to a new study by the Pew Center on States.
“State election offices have made considerable strides in getting Web sites up and running. Yet as more and more Americans seek information online, it is no longer enough for election offices merely to put information online,” said Michael Caudell-Feagan, director of Make Voting Work.
“Voters are turning to the Web with basic questions about how to cast their ballot. And our study shows that state Web sites need to do a better job in meeting those needs. There are simple things outlined in this report that every state can do to improve services and make the democratic process easier.”
The study found the average usability score for election Web sites in the 50 states and the District of Columbia to be 58 percent. Usability ranged from a high of 77 percent (Iowa) to a low of 33 percent (New Hampshire).
When using search engines such as Google, only 38 states appear as the first search term when searching for voting in a specific state. Only 34 official sate Web sites appear as the first search result when users enter their state name with “polling place.”
Thirty-four states have a poll locator tool, but only 11 states will identify a polling location for any address in the state.
Half the states including the District of Columbia (53%) offer ways for users to verify their registration online
By not improving their sties, states are missing an opportunity to save money on voter telephone help lines, which can cost up to $100 per call.
“We know that, on average, people spend less than two minutes on a Web site before they give up on their search for information,” said Kil Huh, research project director at the Pew Center on the States and a lead researcher on the report.
“Too many of the Web sites we visited included historical information, inadequate search functions and mislabeled links that may prevent locating what users need. If voters turning to the Internet can’t easily find the information they need to cast their ballots in November, it could drive up the volume of calls and, thus, costs to election officials with limited resources.”