“Democracy is a design problem.” Whitney Quesenbery, Co-Founder of the Center for Civic Design in Washington, talks voting slips and the many factors that influence how we behave in the polling booth.  

We’ll talk hanging chads. Dogs in polling station! And we pop on a posh frock and prepare a tearful speech to take a look at the Oscars and how the Academy votes for the most sought-after awards in entertainment. 

You’re in the polling booth. Just you, the ballot paper and a pencil on a string. You’re hovering over the names as you decide where to put your cross.  

Can the design of this tiny slip of paper affect how you vote? Can you make sense of the information? Do you just go for the candidate at the top of the list? In this episode we’re going to explore a small-but-important part of democracy; the voting slip. 

Our guest is someone who cares deeply about the design of ballots. Whitney Quesenbery is the Co-Founder and Director of the Center for Civic Design in Washington. She advises government organisations, non-profits and tech companies on best practice in election design. 

Their core principle is: ‘Democracy is a design problem’. Elections should work for everyone, and as she explains, design is a tool for building a better democracy where more people can take part.  

We’ll talk hanging chads. Dogs in polling stations! We’ll also look at the Oscars and how members of the Academy vote for the most sought-after awards in entertainment. 

Useful links 

Connect with Whitney on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/whitneyq  

Explore the Center for Civic Design: https://civicdesign.org/ 

https://www.linkedin.com/company/center-for-civic-design  

They have extensive resources that support good election design. 

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Sookio podcast page: https://www.sookio.com/podcast 

Produced by Rob Birnie at Made By DBM: https://madebydbm.com 

Links recorded at Cranes Nest podcast studio in Cambridge: https://www.thecranenest.co.uk/  

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