[EM] Usability studies of ranking/rating/approval methods

[Steve Wolfman]

There's been some recent discussion of which ballots are easiest to use.  
Does anyone know of published (experimental) studies of usability of 
non-plurality ballots (perhaps vs. plurality ballots)?

I'd be happy to take personal responses and summarize for anyone who would 
rather not post to the list.

		Thanks,

		Steve

P.S. From what I've looked at so far: A good starting point into the 
literature on usability for plurality ballots is Sarah Everett's thesis: 
The Usability of Electronic Voting Machines and How Votes Can Be Changed 
Without Detection.  That references Herrnson et al's book "Voting 
Technology: The Not-So-Simple Act..", also a substantial work in the area. 
Both discuss usability of a few non-standard ballot features (e.g., review 
screens/VVPAT), and at least the latter discusses "select 2" contests. 
However, neither addresses ranked/rated/approval ballots.  In the US, NIST 
has developed usability standards for voting (specifically for non-ranked 
contests).  Here's NIST's voting homepage http://www.nist.gov/itl/vote/, 
but I haven't found the navigation path to the specific usability 
benchmark document yet; so, see: 
http://vote.nist.gov/meeting-08172007/Usability-Benchmarks-081707.pdf

---------------------
Steven Wolfman, Ph.D.
Sr Instructor, UBC CS