Toward More Usable Electronic Voting: Testing the Usability of a Smartphone Voting System

• Published in: Human factors 2014-08, Vol.56 (5), p.973-985
• Main Authors: Campbell, Bryan A., Tossell, Chad C., Byrne, Michael D., Kortum, Philip
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Applied physiology; Biological and medical sciences; Cell Phone; Elections; Ergonomics - instrumentation; Ergonomics. Human factors; Ergonomics. Work place. Occupational physiology; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Human physiology applied to population studies and life conditions. Human ecophysiology; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Occupational psychology; Platforms; Politics; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Public policy; Security; Smartphones; Socioeconomic Factors; Space life sciences; Technology utilization; Time Factors; Voters; Voting; Voting systems; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0018-7208; 1547-8181
• DOI: 10.1177/0018720813519266

Objective: The goal of this research was to assess the usability of a voting system designed for smartphones. Background: Smartphones offer remote participation in elections through the use of pervasive technology. Voting on these devices could, among other benefits, increase voter participation while allowing voters to use familiar technology. However, the usability of these systems has not been assessed. Method: A mobile voting system optimized for use on a smartphone was designed and tested against traditional voting platforms for usability. Results: There were no reliable differences between the smartphone-based system and other voting methods in efficiency and perceived usability. More important, though, smartphone owners committed fewer errors on the mobile voting system than on the traditional voting systems. Conclusion: Even with the known limitations of small mobile platforms in both displays and controls, a carefully designed system can provide a usable voting method. Much of the concern about mobile voting is in the area of security; therefore, although these results are promising, security concerns and usability issues arising from mitigating them must be strongly considered. Application: The results of this experiment may help to inform current and future election and public policy officials about the benefits of allowing voters to vote with familiar hardware.