Hi Marta,
>Palm Beach ballot from the disability rights perspective ---
<...>
>The reason for the rally is that the so called "butterfly" ballot
>had its
>greatest impact on people with disabilities. From a seated
>position in a
>wheelchair it was impossible to look down on the ballot as a
>person who
>could stand would do. There were no voting machines at a
>wheelchair
>accessible height. The line of sight that people using wheelchairs
>had made
>it impossible to see what punch holes lined up with which names.
Thanks for this. Further evidence that the bloody ballot was difficult even for non-disabled people I've attached below (again from the Info Design lis). This adds fuel to the argument of the disabled.
cheers, Joanna
>Although numerous straight-on pictures of the "butterfly ballot" have
>appeared in the media, this is not the way people actually see it.
>
>An interactive ballot as seen from the voter's viewing angle appears on
>the Sun-Sentinel site (a southeast Florida coast newspaper,
>www.sun-sentinel.com). The visual ambiguity is clearly amplified when
>the array is not viewed straight-on.
>
>http://www.sun-sentinel.com/graphics/news/ballot.htm
>
>What shocked me was that when I went to cast my virtual vote for Gore --
>in spite of being aware of a problem -- I almost punched Buchanan!
>Why?
>
>Visually the 2nd hole (the Buchanan hole) lies directly across from the
>word DEMOCRATIC just below the top of the DEMOCRATIC box. Indeed: TWO
>punch-holes lie squarely opposite the DEMOCRATIC box. The closest hole
>to the word DEMOCRATIC is the Buchanan hole -- perceptually associated
>by proximity. Indeed the Buchanan hole is closer to the word DEMOCRATIC
>than Gore's name is to the Gore hole. Maximum confusability.
>
>Bush supporters wouldn't be confused: Republican is at the top of the
>list and therefore will naturally be perceptually associated with the
>top punch-hole. Also: there is only ONE punch-hole between the top and
>bottom lines of the REPUBLICAN box. Minimal confusability.
>
>Also: as Paula Scher (see below) and others have suggested, while
>reading the left-hand list, the viewer associates ALL the dots to the
>right with that list. It's only when you get to the right-hand page
>that you realize that some of the center holes actually belong to the
>other page. That's the Oh-No! moment.
>
>This differential confusability UNQUESTIONABLY creates a
>perceptual/behavioral bias in favor of the Republican vote, regardless
>of intentionality.
>
>I've got a PhD, good glasses, all my faculties, and am not a retiree
>(yet). What about voters who are less advantaged? Less experienced in
>voting? More shy? And those more easily intimidated?
>
>Kudos to Paula Scher (Pentagram) for her analysis of the Palm Beach
>County Ballot -- the "Op-Art" piece on the Op-Ed page of the New York
>Times, Saturday 11/11.
>
>Carolyn M Bloomer, Cultural Anthropologist
>Author, Principles of Visual Perception
>Ringling School of Art and Design
>2700 North Tamiami Trail
>Sarasota FL 34234
>cbloomer at Ringling.EDU
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