Design competition teams recognized for advancing voting technology

The Human Factors and Ergonomics Society congratulates the two winners of the HFES 2014 Voting Design Competition: corporate winter Intuitive Company and academic winner Georgia Tech Student Chapter. The winners, along with the six other competing teams, presented their prototypes at the HFES 2014 International Annual Meeting in Chicago.

"Intuitive Voting," submitted by Intuitive Company's team leader Rob Tannen, consists of smartphone apps designed to inform and assist voters and to train and support election volunteers.

"We wanted our solution to be both forward-thinking and backward-compatible," said Tannen. "While we envision online voting via the app, the near-term value is in enabling citizens to learn about candidates and issues before Election Day. People can even select choices ahead of time and bring the app into the voting booth to be more effective and efficient voters."

The voter app works within the current election infrastructure to keep citizens informed by setting reminders, providing ballot choices that can be used for reference at the polling station, and, in the long term, supporting online voting. The volunteer app for training and supporting election workers includes such resources as video guides for setting up voting equipment and a feature to report estimated poll waiting times to election officials and voters. More information about the apps can be found at http://intuitivevoting.com.

"A Comprehensive Web-Based Solution for Future Voting," submitted by team leader Thomas Gable of the HFES Georgia Tech Student Chapter, aims to create a streamlined voting process. The team provided a template for how the entire voting process can be designed. Their Web-based prototype applies human factors/ergonomics principles to create an enjoyable, efficient experience for all users.

"Our submission leverages human factors design principles to create a comprehensive and personalized Web site that voters can use to take care of all of their needs throughout the voting process, whether it be changing addresses, registering to vote, checking ID requirements, learning about candidates and voting topics, and potentially the act of voting itself," said Gable. "We hope that this one-stop-shop concept streamlines voting in this country."

The Voting Design Competition, sponsored by the HFES Outreach Division, called for submissions that aimed to solve problems in the current voting system through cutting-edge, innovative, interactive user experiences that would redefine the future of voting.