<html> Hi Marta, <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>Palm Beach ballot from the disability rights perspective ---</blockquote> <...> <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>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.</blockquote> <x-sigsep></x-sigsep> 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 <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>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.  <a href="http://www.sun-sentinel.com/graphics/news/ballot.htm" eudora="autourl">http://www.sun-sentinel.com/graphics/news/ballot.htm</a> 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@Ringling.EDU</blockquote></html>