The American political process is fascinating. Every few years, thousands of people head to their local polling places to have their voices heard. These polling places can be anywhere—a school, a church, a retirement home, any relatively large space that agrees to host this most important democratic ritual. Most people only see a few polling places in their lifetime, one for everywhere they live as an adult.
The New York Times, in partnership with AIGA, the American professional organization for design, seeks to change this. With their Polling Place Photo Project, they are urging voters from across the country to submit photos and descriptions of their voting experience to create “a visual record of how voting happens in America: where it occurs, what the process looks like, how people act, and, ultimately, how the voting experience can be designed to be easier, less confusing and more rewarding”.
- As part of their submissions, voters describe everything about their experience, from personal voting habits, to lines at the polls to ballot type. How will all of this information help fulfill the Times‘ goal of making “the voting experience…easier, less confusing, and more rewarding”?
