design over matter

In my young and single days, I learned the simple rules for doing the laundry.  Whites on hot, darks on cold and colors on warm.  Those were the days of three simple piles that practically sorted themselves on my apartment floor.  Three loads later, I was done and ready to go mountain biking.

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I won't delve into the politics of this voter registration form.  All I'll say is "It's Florida.  Do you remember the election of 2000?".  What I want to talk about is how Florida's voter registration form demonstrates the challenges of usability when creating forms.

Here is a screen capture of the form.  You can download a copy of the original pdf here.

I'm going to address question number 4, because it's a recent addition to the form.  Take a moment to read it.  What's wrong with this?

I affirm I have not been adjudicated mentally incapacitated with respect to voting or, if I have, my right to vote has been restored.

The checkbox is blank.  Therefore, you must opt-in or you are too crazy to vote.  This wouldn't be a big deal if I was opting in for a magazine subscription, but the residents in Florida will lose their right to vote if they don't check this box.  Have you ever made a mistake filling out a government form?  Ever incorrectly read or skipped over a question?  Pretty big consequences for a little checkbox.  

When we encounter this type of problem in web development, how can we minimize user error while completing the form?

1. We could change the question into a positive question. It would look like this         I am currently mentally incapacitated with respect to voting.  Think about it.  99.9% of the population could ignore this checkbox.  And that would be appropriate.
2. We could keep the question the same and default the checkbox to "checked".  Again, make the .1% take action and uncheck it.
3. If we keep the question the same and the person checks it, upon submission have a message appear.  Ask the person to confirm their answer regarding being mentally incapacitated with respect to voting.  This will provide the necessary feedback at the soonest possible moment.

So, keep in mind when creating checkboxes, radio buttons, select boxes, etc that the default SHOULD be the most common answer.  This will help users complete forms in the quickest and most accurate way.

A shout out to the folks at "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me", the NPR news quiz show for mentioning the Florida Voter Registration form on their show.